India pacer Mohammed Siraj becomes the latest victim of cybercrime

23-year-old Indian speedster Mohammed Siraj is the latest cricketer to be a victim of cybercrime. A minor boy, allegedly a big fan of Hyderabad-based Indian cricketer, has now landed himself in trouble after he hacked into the mail and social media accounts of the cricketer. The individual, who hacked into the Gmail, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts of Siraj, is said to have not done much mischief, except to send ‘I Love You’ messages to Siraj’s relatives.

Following the incident, the Hyderabad player lodged a complaint with the Cybercrime wing of the City Police stating that his Facebook account has been hacked. The police eventually tracked the culprit and found him to be a 14-year-old family friend-turned-fan of the cricketer.

The pace bowler, who wore the Indian shirt in a T20I for the first time against New Zealand last year, has a huge fan following from Hyderabad and other cities as well. On understanding that his accounts have been hacked, the cricketer approached the Police, who swung into action tracked the teenage hacker in a couple of hours.

However, on coming to know that the boy was involved, Siraj reportedly requested the cops not to book a case against the kid, keeping in view his future.

The hacker was tracked using IP address

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police KCS Raghu Vir, the cricketer told police that his relatives received unusual messages from his Gmail and three social media accounts.

An investigating officer privy to the developments revealed, “The hacker gave a cell phone number as the new password to access social media accounts of Siraj. We obtained the details of the cell phone number and realized that it was being used by a 14-year-old boy from Begumpet, who is the son of a watchman.”

A senior investigation officer said the 14-year-old minor boy was a resident of Begumpet, who was tracked down using his Internet Protocol address after the cricketer lodged the complaint. However, he will now have to contend with what law has for him after Siraj’s complaint with the Cyber Crime police.