A case of hacking and blackmail has shocked Karachi, as police arrested a man for hacking social media accounts of women via suspicious links, Express Tribune reported. The suspect has been identified as Sameer and is custody of the Eidgah Police Station. Sameer confessed to his crimes and stated that he hacked into accounts and attained private information and media from the victim’s phones and blackmailed them into meeting them. He has hacked around 100 accounts so far, with over 450 obscene videos recovered from his devices.
The suspect has also admitted to buying these phishing links for Rs. 5000 from a man in Lahore. He stated that he used platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, and further hacked into the Google Accounts of the victims and extracted information to blackmail.
He had been using this information to push his victims into becoming his friends and eventually meeting him in person, where he recorded their obscene videos for committing further crimes. Sameer is unemployed and a Grade VII student, living with his mother and sister in Rabiya City, Gulshan-e-Jauhar, Karachi. He has been excelling at hacking through an online group.
According to Deputy Inspector General South, Asad Rana, a special investigation team has been formed for forensic analysis of the recovered mobile phones and laptops. The investigation team will directly work with the Counter Terrorism Department and other federal security agencies.
In a press briefing, Station House Officer Hafeez Awan stated that his primary targets were middle-class women who were entrapped through an online earning programme. Presenting himself as a guide, and gained their trust before sending these phishing links. In the current investigation, it is determined that around 100 women have been blackmailed. In compliance with the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing, the police are trying to determine if these videos have been sold on the dark web.
Sameer’s last hacking attempt was in Ranchore Lines, where the girl reported the hacking to her family, which later reported him to the police, leading to his arrest. The young girl had agreed to assist the police by luring Sameer into meeting her, where police officers arrested him along with incriminating evidence.
