Man hacks retired diplomat’s email, extorts contacts for money, held

nNEWDELHI: A 40-year-old man from Delhi hacked the email account of a retired senior diplomat and used it to dupe his contacts by sending them requests for financial help, said the police on Tuesday after arresting the man and uncovering an elaborate fraud in which he had allegedly made more than ₹1 crore.

The suspect, Akram Ali, had also used a similar modus operandi to pose as an income tax and excise department officer to blackmail and extort other people for money, said Atul Kumar Thakur, the deputy commissioner of police (south).

The police said Ali allegedly came up with an idea that involved hacking the email accounts of prominent people and then either emotionally blackmailing their contacts into transferring money as financial help or extorting them for money.

The cyber team of the south Delhi district police were alerted of this modus operandi when the retired consulate general of a Latin American country approached them last month.

“His contacts had received requests for financial help. Two of them had even sent him about ₹1.4 lakh,” said the DCP.

The police connected one of the Aadhaar numbers to a labourer in Delhi. He identified Ali as the man who had got his address on the Aadhaar card changed, arranged for his stay in a rented home and opened multiple bank accounts in his name. “Ali would first rent rooms for these labourers, change their addresses in the Aadhaar cards, then open four-five bank accounts in each of their names,” said the DCP.

Ali would then ask his potential victims for money that would land in the bank accounts of the labourers. Ali would then withdraw the money from ATMS.