Data theft: cops probing China, Pak agents’ role
HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad police, investigating the data heist of information on 70 crore Indians, are probing whether it was sold to Chinese or Pakistani
players, or third parties that could have sold the information to the Asian
countries, given that data belonging to defence personnel was also seized in
recent busts.
Confirming that the data was sold to parties that indulged in cybercrime, the police said that investment frauds are mostly backed by China-backed gangs.
The police said that they were probing whether information of defence personnel was used in dating frauds or honey-trapping extortion frauds, with data of around 2.55 lakh defence personnel based in the National Capital Region forming a prominent part of the seized data sets.
Officials said that there have been several instances of fraudsters impersonating VIPs and bureaucrats to extort money, with most of the accused found to be based in Nepal and Nigeria. In multiple instances, Nigerians also extorted money using morphed videos of Indian victims, they said.
“We cannot rule out the data of defence personnel landing in the hands of
Chinese and Pakistani players and also whether they had already contacted
defence personnel through lucrative investment schemes or with fake identities,” an investigator said.
The police said they are doing a reverse probe to trace the source of the data leaks, besides also tracking the buyers.
Defence forces have contacted Cyberabad police to seek the details of the
cases and started their own probes into the data theft.
