Scam alert: Crooks hack former Karnataka minister Roshan Baig’s WhatsApp, seek money from his contacts

BENGALURU: Former minister R Roshan Baig approached police, seeking action against miscreants who hacked his WhatsApp account recently and sent fraudulent messages to his contacts.According to a complaint filed by Baig with East CEN Crime police, his account was hacked on June 5. He immediately alerted his contacts not to click on any links or respond to the messages asking for financial help. “My friend informed me that he was sending Rs 84,000 as requested by me. I realised it was a fraud and told him to stop. Then I got to know that he received the message from my WhatsApp number. It is not the case of crooks using a random number and putting my photo as a display picture,” Baig told TOI.

“Within a few minutes, my son got a call from afriend who also received a message asking for financial help. My son alerted me . Before we could take steps to stop the fraud, my grandson, who was coming to India from abroad, called me and said he received a message on WhatsApp in which I asked for Rs 85,000. I surrendered my sim card, and purchased a new one on the same number. Since we ensured all my contacts were aware of the hacking, none of them transferred the money,” he said. A case was registered under the Information Technology Act.