HYDERABAD: For seven months a 35-year-old housewife and mother of two in LB Nagar, Hyderabad
underwent severe stress and harassment. The reason? Someone had created a fake Facebook profile of the woman claiming she was a sex worker, featuring pictures of an obscene nature taken off the Internet and listing her real contact number.
The woman, flooded with calls for months on end that even threatened her marriage, approached the
Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police after one of the callers told her that her number was listed on a Facebook profile.
On Saturday, the police cracked the case and discovered the culprit to be one Thummeti Ashok, 19-year-old degree student. The reason for his actions? He was angry that the lady had scolded him after she found him using her family's wireless internet connection.
After a thorough investigation, the police arrested Ashok, who hails from Rakonda village in Mahabubnagar, under sections 66 (c) and 67 (A) of IT Act. He was remanded to judicial custody. Police
said Ashok confessed to the crime.
Ashok had been tracked down through the IP address of the device used to create the fake profile. The accused had allegedly used a mobile phone from Kapra area in AS Rao Nagar. According to police, Ashok's family had lived in LB Nagar and they moved to AS Rao Nagar about seven months before the incident. During their stay, he had gained access into the WiFi router of the woman and had cracked the password through trial and error. He would access the internet by sitting near the house. Noticing this, the victim scolded him and changed the password.
"He bore grudge against her and wanted to take revenge,” said Rachakonda cyber crime inspector Md Riyazuddin. To this end, police said Ashok purchased a pre-activated SIM card and used it on his phone only to access the internet and create the fake profile.
“Ashok sent friend requests to random people to circulate the Facebook profile. Whoever saw the profile called the woman. This went on for some months. The woman’s life had become miserable as she
received calls day and night, and her personal life was at stake,” said the inspector, adding that the accused had earlier been arrested in LB Nagar in a theft case.