In a shocking incident in Maharashtra's Parbhani district, a cab driver has been arrested by the police for his involvement in hacking women's social media accounts. The arrested driver, identified as Ajay alias Vinod Kishanrao Munde, used these hacked accounts to extort money from the victims by threatening to share their manipulated pictures on pornographic websites.
According to the police, the accused, Munde, used to send links to women on Facebook. When the women clicked on these links, the accused used to hack into their social media accounts. Subsequently, he used to blackmail the women by threatening to upload their pictures on pornographic websites in order to extort money from them. It has been reported that he targeted the social media profiles of 24 women, but his unlawful activities came to an end when he was apprehended by the police.
While providing further details, the police revealed that the accused used to access women's Facebook accounts and even send links to their friends. He also hacked their accounts, following which he would blackmail the women by informing them that their photos and videos had been uploaded to adult websites. To add to their distress, he used to demand money in exchange for removing the content.
The accused used to blackmail women and demand amounts ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 from them. He assumed that if he asked for a smaller sum, the women would not report the matter to the police. However, three women bravely contacted the police. Consequently, the accused was later arrested from Latur by the authorities. Being a cab driver, the accused used to frequently travel between Latur, Nanded, and Parbhani.
Two women from Sindhudurg district and one woman from Mumbai lodged complaints against the accused. Subsequent investigation uncovered that he had blackmailed and extorted money from 24 women. The accused resorted to hacking their social media accounts as he faced financial constraints during the lockdown. He has now been charged under sections related to cheating, impersonation, and offenses under the Information Technology Act, among others.