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Bengaluru, Nov 12 (IANS) Karnataka Police on Wednesday arrested a man from Bihar for hacking the mobile phones of Kannada actor Upendra and his actress-wife Priyanka Upendra and withdrawing several lakhs of rupees through cyber fraud.
After investigation started at Sadashivnagar police station in Bengaluru, the police identified the accused as Vikas Kumar, resident of Dashrathpur, Bihar.
Police said the celebrity couple’s phone was hacked on September 15 when Priyanka clicked on a malicious link received on her mobile related to online shopping.
An investigating officer said, “The accused later hacked Priyanka’s mobile and sent fake messages to her contacts, falsely claiming that she urgently needed Rs 55,000 and requested to transfer the amount.”
After receiving the message, Upendra and his manager tried to call that number, but the accused hacked their phone also. Many of his contacts, believing that the messages were genuine, transferred money to bank accounts given by the accused.
On receiving the fake message, Upendra’s son also sent Rs 50 thousand to his mother’s number. Police said, when other people tried to call Priyanka’s number, the calls kept getting disconnected.
After realizing that her phone was stolen, Priyanka lodged a complaint with the Sadashivnagar police. Taking prompt action, the police traced the accused from Dashrathpur in Bihar and arrested him.
Preliminary investigation revealed shocking details – apart from Vikas Kumar, over a hundred youth aged between 20 to 25 are allegedly involved in similar cyber crimes by targeting unsuspecting victims for money.
It is noteworthy that Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara had said that a total of 8,620 cyber crime cases were reported in the state in the first seven months of 2025. Bengaluru city tops the tally with 6,301 cases, followed by Bengaluru Rural district with 258 cases.
Of the 53,000 cyber crimes reported since April 2023, only 70 criminals have been convicted in the last 28 months. On an average, around 22,000 cases are reported every year in the state, he said.
Parameshwara said the government has set up 43 new cyber crime police stations across Karnataka to tackle the problem.
–IANS
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