An engineering dropout and global hacker, is in the CBI net. He is part of a global network of
hackers and was arrested from Pune following a tip-off from the FBI. He was flown to New
Delhi in the evening.
This is for the first time that a global network of cyber hackers has been traced to India.
Investigating agencies of China, Romania and the United States collaborated with the CBI to
pounce upon the 32-year-old professional hacker who, a source said, had compromised more
than 1,000 internet accounts around the world.
The CBI claims that his hacking syndicate has been active in India since 2011, and that he has
confessed to hacking 950 foreign email accounts besides 171 in India. He was arrested from
his house in Pune and taken to New Delhi on a transit-remand for further questioning.
The CBI tracked him down after the FBI passed on information on the global network of cyber
hackers. Simultaneous raids were conducted in Mumbai and Ghaziabad.
This is not the first time he has been arrested. In 2003, he was arrested by the Mumbai police
for defrauding a Mumbai-based credit card processing company of nearly Rs9 lakh when he
was only 21 and pursuing a degree in engineering in Pune. At that time, he was operating
a website designing services start-up www.mafiaz.com. During investigation, police found
several fictitious names of clients and bank account numbers in his computer.
“Though he has claimed to have hacked into the email accounts of over 900 people globally,
the kind of clientele whom he was serving is still to be established. From identify theft to
corporate rivalry, he was serving all types of clients,” a CBI officer said. But he hacked only
email accounts and not bank accounts.
CBI claimed that he was operating through two websites — www.hirehacker.net and www.
anonymity.com — and was charging between $250-500 for his service. He was paid via Western
Union money transfer and Paypal. He used to send the money to his father and girlfriend.
“As part of an international law enforcement operation, the CBI has registered two cases against
suspected operators of hacking websites. Similar operations are being conducted in Romania,
China and the US. It is suspected that the number of email accounts hacked may be much
larger once the data is collected and the accused are interrogated,” a CBI officer said.
The hacker’s clientele included jilted lovers and corporate entities. After registering the cases,
the CBI carried out searches in two locations in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Ghaziabad
for violations of various sections of the IT Act and section 379 of the IPC
Refrence:Ncert IT
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