The Maharashtra Cyber Crime department, while investigating the ongoing cases involving loan apps, has discovered a new racket, where cybercriminals can install WhatsApp on their phones using mobile numbers registered with other people. The advantage is that when these WhatsApp accounts are used for criminal activity, the police land up at the wrong person’s doorstep while the actual criminals continue their activities.Earlier this month, the Cyber police had started investigations against Happy Loans, a loan app registered in Gujarat, after a Mulund resident registered an FIR against its recovery agents.The victim was getting messages on WhatsApp, in which the recovery agents were threatening to tell all his contacts that he was a rapist. The police traced the number from which the messages were being received and, to their surprise, found that it was registered to a vegetable seller from Dhule.“We brought in Gawli for inquiries and he turned up with local political representatives in tow, who demanded to see what proof we had. We showed them the messages sent from his number and Gawli placed his cell phone on our desk. It was a basic model which did not even have WhatsApp,” an officer with the Maharashtra Cyber department said.The…
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Maharashtra Cyber police uncover WhatsApp cloning racket while probing loan app cases
