Two held for hacking Instagram account of woman, seeking money from her friends

NEW DELHI: Two men were arrested for allegedly hacking the Instagram account of a woman and seeking money from her friends after sending messages to them claiming a medical emergency, police said on Monday.

Accused Gaurav Singh (20) and Sumit Singh Panwar (22) were nabbed and three mobile phones along with SIM cards used for hacking and accessing the Instagram ID of the woman were seized from their possession, they said.

The duo are social media users and make reels on Instagram. To pay the hotel charges and fulfill their other needs, they hacked the Instagram ID of the victim and asked money from her friends, police said.

The matter came to light after a complaint was filed by the victim on February 6, saying she received a link on her Instagram ID regarding voting for some modelling competition from the Instagram ID of another girl and on clicking that link, her account got hacked, the police said.

The woman, in the complaint, alleged that after hacking her account, the accused sent messages to her Instagram friends and sought money from them on the pretext of some medical emergency. Some of her friends sent money, they said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Avnish Kumar said during investigation, a notice was served to Instagram and the victim’s hacked account was blocked on the same day to prevent further misuse. Notices were also sent to concerned banks to get details of beneficiary bank accounts.

“As per the bank’s reply, the cheated amount was first credited in BharatPe’s Nodal account and then credited in beneficiary accounts. Further probe revealed that the alleged mobile number which was linked to complainant’s hacked Instagram ID was found in the name of Gaurav Singh, he added.

“On February 7, our team conducted raids and apprehended two accused from a hotel at Mahipalpur, New Delhi. A mobile phone along with alleged the SIM card used for Internet to access Instagram ID of the complainant was recovered from the possession of accused Sumit Singh Panwar,” the officer said.

During interrogation, the accused duo revealed that they found a phishing link on a website through which Instagram account could be hacked. To earn easy money, they sent phishing link to the victim on the pretext of voting for a modelling competition, he said.

“When she filled her username and password in the link to vote, they hacked her ID and changed the mobile number linked to her ID. They asked small amounts from her friends thinking that she will not make any complaint to police as the amount was less,” the DCP said. (PTI)