2 Nigerians held for hacking WhatsApp of Transport Ministry official

New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS) Delhi Police has arrested two Nigerian nationals for allegedly hacking the WhatsApp mobile application of a senior official in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, an official said here on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Okoye Simeon, 39, and Ugo Chukwu, 35, both presently residing at Uttam Nagar, Delhi, were arrested under sections 170, 420 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code.

Furnishing details about the case, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi district) Deepak Yadav said a complaint was lodged by a senior official of the ministry stating that some unknown people have hacked his whatAapp account and impersonated him by using his profile photo.

The Ministry officer further alleged that hackers also demanded money from many persons from his contact list showing urgent requirement of medicine pursuant to which one of them transferred a sum of Rs 75,000 to the hackers. Based on the complaint, a police team was constituted to nab the offenders.

"With the help of technical surveillance, the location of the hackers was traced to Uttam Nagar area of Delhi. It was also found out that a group of Nigerians were involved in this type of crime," DCP Yadav said.

Thereafter, a raid was conducted at the traced location and two accused were nabbed.

On sustained interrogation, it was revealed that Okoye Simeon was the kingpin of this racket. Earlier, he used to do frauds using Facebook and recently, he started whatsApp hacking frauds. He revealed that his friends arranged fake accounts for receiving the cheated amount, the police said.

The police recovered four mobile phones, two laptops, one expired passport and sim cards used in the commission of offence.