Authorities in different countries are increasingly taking stricter measures against cyber criminal practices. This time, digital forensics specialists report that a man from Bangladesh has been arrested for hacking more than 200 Facebook accounts.
The hacker sent messages through Facebook
Messenger to compromise the victims’ accounts. Through this platform, the
defendant sent messages to victims claiming that some friend or relative had
been disseminating their confidential information using another Facebook
account. Subsequently, the hacker sent a link to the victims, ensuring that
when clicked they would find the alleged account.
“Actually, what the hacker sent is a phishing
link, which redirects the victim to a site where he can capture their login
credentials,” says Mishuk Chakma, a digital forensics officer at the Counter
Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) of the Metropolitan Police of
Dhaka.
A couple of months ago a young woman residing
in Mohammadour filed a lawsuit for the hacking of her Facebook account,
finally, CTTC confirmed the arrest of 20-year-old Kawsar Ahmed last Wednesday
night, claiming that he is a professional cybercriminal.
Authorities claim the hacker threatened the
victim with posting her private photos, as well as trying to scam some of her
Facebook friends. “We’ve already received dozens of complaints about
similar incidents, most hacked accounts lacked additional security layers, such
as multi-factor authentication,” Chakma says.
During the hacker’s arrest, police seized 600
thousand Bangladeshi taka (about $7k USD) and two smartphones from where Kawsar
operated.
International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS)
digital forensics specialists mention that operators of this class of practices
usually try to taint victims’ connections to perform activities such as
extortion or fraud. As a security measure, it is vital that social media users
verify the source of any message, as a hacker may try to impersonate one of their
contacts. Ignoring suspicious links received by Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or
direct messages on Twitter or Instagram is also recommended.