Four men – Bhadusha, Thaju, Sahabudeen and Sayad Alim – have been booked by the Ramanathapuram police for engaging in sexual predatory by hacking into mobile phones of gullible women.
A woman from Erwadi near Ramanathapuram called the District Superintendent of Police of Ramanathapuram and informed that she was in trouble after getting her cellphone recharged at a shop named “Erbath Net Café”.
She had informed the police that she had gone to the shop to recharge her mobile phone where Bhadusha, Haaji and Sahabudeen had told her that she can do mobile recharge directly from her phone using the ‘AnyDesk’ app. Through this app, they got control of her phone and accessed it through their laptop.
The men had then downloaded her photos, videos and WhatsApp chats and threatened to leak it in the internet. They had used it to blackmail her and extort money. One of the men Sahabudeen asked her not to worry and told her that he would marry her. He had asked her to come to a secluded spot where she was raped. She told the police that they had circulated her photos and videos in different WhatsApp groups worldwide as she did not pay the money.
Based on her complaint, on the order of the DSP the cyber-crime department along with the Erwadi All Women Police team raided Erbath Net Café. Police arrested Bhadusha, Sahabudeen and Haji and confiscated 4 cellphones and a laptop.
During the investigation it was found that the laptop had many such picture and videos of different women. Bhadusha would send the pictures and videos to a man named Syed Alim in Malaysia who then sends it to different WhatsApp groups and people present in Erwadi region. They had used the same modus operandi of installing the ‘AnyDesk’ app in gullible womens’ phones to extort money by blackmailing them with their private pictures and videos. Most of the victims are women whose husbands have gone abroad for work.
Under the pretext of providing services for Aadhar Card, voter ID, passport, bio-data, RTI applications, mobile and DTH recharge services, they had preyed on several women.
Women in the region of Ramanathapuram can contact 94899 19722 to report sexual harassment offences against them. All their details would be kept confidential.
People are also advised to not use apps like AnyDesk that puts privacy at risk.
Source: Polimer News