Kolkata: A 21-year-old student from Bhowanipore, who is a popular Instagrammer with over 3.5K followers, recently fell prey to cyber crooks who hacked her profile with an offer to promote certain products.
The crooks were in the process of asking for ransom but the girl filed a complaint even before the hackers could make their next move. The South Division cyber cell contacted the Instagram authorities and managed to retrieve the account in 48 hours.
“In her complaint to police on June 13, the young woman stated that she had received a communication through Insta messenger wherein she was asked to promote a particular product a particular number of times through her Instagram handle. She was offered Rs 10,000 for the promotion. Since the Instagrammer had carried out a lot of promotions in the past, she was easily convinced to take up the assignment. Once she agreed to the terms and conditions, she was asked to add a Gmail account to her Instagram. Once she added the Gmail account, she was again asked to add a particular number to her account. The moment she did so, she lost access to her Insta account,” said an investigating officer.
The student instantly realized that she had been duped. Without wasting any time, she approached the Bhowanipore police station as well as the cyber cell of South Division.
“Accordingly, we made several attempts to restore her access. However, all efforts went in vain. Finally, Instagram authorities were contacted. Sergeant Suvankar Chakraborty and constables Koumari Mukherjee and Somnath Kundu had multiple communications with the Instagram Safety team and access was restored within a couple of days. Further investigation to understand the modus operandi is in progress,” said a senior South Division officer.
Police have now raised concerns over possible Turkish hackers (or those using their modus operandi) targeting profiles of popular and upcoming YouTubers and Instagram influencers by promising to extend their viewership for a fee or by offering them product promotions.
“The phenomenon first surfaced in 2021 but has since only increased. We have found the original contents were severely compromised and either Turkish items or advertisements of well-known companies were instead put up there,” said a police source. However, unlike the ransomware attacks noticed elsewhere, no ransom amounts were demanded in these cases,” said an officer.
The crooks were in the process of asking for ransom but the girl filed a complaint even before the hackers could make their next move. The South Division cyber cell contacted the Instagram authorities and managed to retrieve the account in 48 hours.
“In her complaint to police on June 13, the young woman stated that she had received a communication through Insta messenger wherein she was asked to promote a particular product a particular number of times through her Instagram handle. She was offered Rs 10,000 for the promotion. Since the Instagrammer had carried out a lot of promotions in the past, she was easily convinced to take up the assignment. Once she agreed to the terms and conditions, she was asked to add a Gmail account to her Instagram. Once she added the Gmail account, she was again asked to add a particular number to her account. The moment she did so, she lost access to her Insta account,” said an investigating officer.
The student instantly realized that she had been duped. Without wasting any time, she approached the Bhowanipore police station as well as the cyber cell of South Division.
“Accordingly, we made several attempts to restore her access. However, all efforts went in vain. Finally, Instagram authorities were contacted. Sergeant Suvankar Chakraborty and constables Koumari Mukherjee and Somnath Kundu had multiple communications with the Instagram Safety team and access was restored within a couple of days. Further investigation to understand the modus operandi is in progress,” said a senior South Division officer.
Police have now raised concerns over possible Turkish hackers (or those using their modus operandi) targeting profiles of popular and upcoming YouTubers and Instagram influencers by promising to extend their viewership for a fee or by offering them product promotions.
“The phenomenon first surfaced in 2021 but has since only increased. We have found the original contents were severely compromised and either Turkish items or advertisements of well-known companies were instead put up there,” said a police source. However, unlike the ransomware attacks noticed elsewhere, no ransom amounts were demanded in these cases,” said an officer.
