Reports of a gang of hackers demanding money from people through online gaming sites after illegally hacking their phones have been surfacing in Kozhikode, Kerala. The used data like images and contact information are being stolen from victim’s phone to extort monies.
The group majorly targets people who play rummy and other real money-based online games, where registration is necessary. The hackers are able to access private data kept on the victim’s phone by compromising these gaming accounts.
According to a most recent report, an individual from Mukkam city went to the police to inform about a group of people threatening them with morphed or ‘photoshopped’ after stealing from their phone. The threats were made using WhatsApp messages and calls from international numbers.
Threats were made by multiple people who could speak in both Hindi and English and shared modified images, contacts from their device to convince the victim to prove that their device has been hacked.
Hackers threatening to leak private images from smartphones
Several other cases with similar ransom demands have been reported across Kerala. In another case from Kodenchery, an individual was extorted out of Rs 15,000 after being threatened to leak family images from their phone.
Some individuals were able to scare off the gang that they have reported them to the cyber cell. The police is currently investigating the issue further. Additional details regarding the same are yet to be made available.
People are advised to refrain from entering any personal details on any website or download any illegal apps as these are easy target for group of people like these to extort money from people. In worst case scenario, they can access bank and private identification details and siphon money out of it.