PANAJI
A man who hacked the old Facebook account of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and sought transfer of money from his 'friends' was on Monday arrested by the Goa Police's Cyber Security Cell from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
Identified as Mohamed Shakir, Cyber Crime Cell of the Goa police said they apprehended him after laying a trap in coordination with Mewat Police. Several SIM cards were found in his possession and seized.
Sawant had last week alleged that his "old Facebook account" was hacked and that he has filed a police complaint reporting the matter.
The "hacking" of his account was reportedly discovered after strange activity was noticed by a social media user, including a demand to send across money through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) mode.
According to Pramesh Asolkar, who raised an alarm after noticing the activity including a request to him to send across Rs 30,000 which would be returned soon, he received a 'friend request' at nearly 9.30 pm on Thursday from Pramod Sawant.
"The profile had the Goa Chief Minister's photo and lotus symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I was sure it was genuine," according to Asolkar who sensed something amiss only when the demand for money was made.
