Cybercriminals Targeting Officials, Celebs

Hyderabad: Cybercriminals are now using fake profiles of IAS and IPS officers to con people. Recently, scamsters created a fake WhatsApp profile of IAS officer Musharraf Faruqui. The scamster allegedly texted a person with a fake number and introduced himself as TSSPDCL CMD Musharraf Faruqui.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Musharraf Faruqui said, “This has happened a lot of times, they usually message my subordinates, asking for money. This is I think the fourth or fifth time it happened. The amounts lost by my subordinates are petty like Rs.10,000. As soon as we learn of it, I inform my PR team about putting the message out to make sure nobody falls for it.”

Speaking of police complaints, Faruqui said they have been filing police complaints about these frauds a complaint would be filed on this incident too.

Apart from fake numbers of officials, cybercriminals are also hacking into WhatsApp accounts of celebrities. Recently, Bahubali film producer Shobu Yarlagadda posted on X about his WhatsApp account getting hacked.

“My @WhatsApp account has been hacked. Hacker has control of my account. Whats More terrible is that @WhatsApp doesn't let me log back in for 12 hours because it says I entered wrong pin multiple times(sic),” he posted on X.

He further said, “In the meantime, the hacker has been duping more people on my contact and getting access to their contacts and more and more accounts are getting compromised. There is no way to reach @WhatsApp. This is crazy! Please do something about this @Meta @WhatsApp.”

The cybercrime police advise people not to share their OTPs or open any suspicious links or APK files as it may lead to their WhatsApp getting compromised. In the cases of fraudsters asking for money through messages, police advise people to always cross-check with the person in question by making a phone call before transferring the money.