BHUBANESWAR: In a serial cyber-attack, Facebook accounts of a Bhubaneswar- based architect and over 70 of her relatives were allegedly hacked by a cyber criminal. Swopna Mohanty, who lives in Aerodrome area in the city, said one of her relatives noticed that an user Gerald Kung was added to most of their family members’ Facebook accounts without their knowledge.
Kung’s profile reads that he is a native of Beijing and stays in San Jose, California. Swopna immediately lodged a complaint with Crime Branch in this regard on Thursday. “My cousin noticed that over 70 of our family and relatives along with our friends were in the friends list of Kung’s Facebook profile. We discussed among ourselves and found out that none of us had ever sent or accepted his friend request,” she informed.
After discussing the matter with family members and friends, Swopna found out that Kung was added to the Facebook friend list of one of her relatives over a month back. They also found out that Kung had liked a Facebook page, which was posting updates against a political party. When they visited the page, they found out that most of its posts were anti- Government and against a political party. “We were surprised to see that the posts targeting a political party had our likes. However, none of us ever followed that Facebook page or liked any of its posts,” she said. The architect said the Facebook account of one of her sisters staying in West Bengal was also hacked and she is in Kung’s Facebook friend list.
However, after coming to know about the cyber crime, all of them have blocked Kung from their Facebook profiles. Crime Branch ADG SK Priyadarshi said they have received the complaint and investigation is underway.
HACKER STORY
The hacker by the name of Gerald Kung had liked a Facebook page which was posting updates against a political party
Most of the posts on the page were anti-Government and against a political party
All the posts targeting a political party had the likes of the victim and her relatives despite the fact that none of them had followed the page or liked any of its posts