Hackers Attack Political Leaders’ Whatsapp Groups

Hyderabad: Multiple WhatsApp groups belonging to ministers, MLAs, political organisations and their media teams were attacked by malicious hackers, who gained access to the groups, changed administrator settings, and attempted to trick members into installing a harmful application disguised as a State Bank of India (SBI) app.

Public relations officers (PROs), who maintain and administer these WhatsApp groups, noticed early on Sunday that an unknown number, +91 94903 73242, had entered several groups without authorisation and stripped the admins of their privileges. Many of the affected groups included journalists and media personnel, making the intrusion more concerning.

Once inside, the hacker renamed the groups to “State Bank of India”, replaced the profile picture with the SBI logo, and circulated a malicious .apk file. Group members were urged to install the fake application.

The message sent by the hacker read “Dear Customer, Your SBI bank account transaction has been on hold, and the account will be permanently blocked tonight due to the Aadhar number not updated in the account. Kindly Update Now - Install SBI AADHAR UPDATE App for KYC Updation. Thank you, SBI Bank.”

Apart from groups belonging to political leaders, organisations such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), All India Youth Federation (AIYF), various local community groups, and several others also reported similar breaches.

Throughout the day, the PROs and administrators scrambled to regain control of their groups. By evening, many were able to retrieve their admin rights and swiftly removed the intruder’s number from their groups.

Cybersecurity experts have advised group admins to turn on stricter permissions, such as enabling approval for new members and using invite-only group links, to prevent unknown numbers from being added without verification.

Authorities have not yet traced the hacker’s number to any individual, and no police case has been filed so far.