Cyber Ordeal: Bhopal Youth Changed Three Phones, Relocated Family

Healthcare professional Anil Kumar Shivahre had a harrowing experience after hackers gained access to mobiles of the entire family to send threatening messages to acquaintances.

Bhopal: Plagued by cyber hackers, a youth from Bhopal has sent his entire family to another city and has changed three mobile phones, SIM cards and email IDs in two months but could not get rid of the clutches of cyberthugs.

For enhanced security, he upgraded to an iPhone but troubles kept mounting for Anil Kumar Shivahre, the area manager of a pharmaceutical company, who was compelled to switch off the phones of his entire family. This bizarre incident has left the cyber cell awestruck.

"I am an area manager in a pharmaceutical company in Bhopal. The trouble started around Diwali. I was returning from Dabra with my family in a car. On the way, I got a message from a company on my mobile that I raised a service request. Even after refusing, the messages and calls kept coming. So I registered a complaint with the company management. From next day, my mobile started operating on its own. Firstly I thought that there was some technical glitch but a similar snag started on the other numbers of the house as well," Shivahre said.

"Before we could understand anything, obscene messages were being sent from our numbers to our neighbours, relatives and even the officials of our company. We came to know about this when people started calling us. We were tired of telling them that we did not make these calls, but our mobiles got hacked. We did not understand what to do and deleted all numbers saved on our mobiles. But it was too late as hackers had accessed all data," he added.

The problem didn't end here as the next move of the hackers was more surprising. "After deleting the numbers, nothing happened for a day, but on the second day, the photos of me, my wife and our children were tampered with and uploaded on Facebook. Obscene photos were shared on social media. We went to the district cyber cell which put our mobiles to factory reset with the help of experts. We thought the problem was fixed, but the relief was of few hours. Our mobiles were hacked again and messages started being sent to our acquaintances again. We approached the cyber cell again which confiscated our mobiles," he said.

This whimsical turn of incidents forced Shivhare to change three cell phones and was advised to upgrade to an iPhone with enhanced security. A friend helped him with an iPhone and he signed up with a new SIM and email address. But in a moment, the friend who helped him buy it received a threatening message.

"The situation has become such that neighbours and friends have started to shy away from helping. People do not even stand near me. Troubled, I sent the family to their maternal grandfather's house and obscene messages started being sent to their numbers as well," Shivhare said.

Shivhare said the hacker is constantly monitoring them as those who help him with anything get threatening messages. "When I turned off WhatsApp, text messages were sent which I am not even able to delete. Once I used one of my neighbour's mobile to make a call to my office and obscene messages started coming in that number a few hours later.

A tormented Shivhare fears losing his job soon as it's nearly impossible to remain digitally cut off in present times.

"In this case, the mobile was factory reset and given back to the victim but after this, a complaint was made about the mobile being hacked again. The matter has been handed over to the state cyber cell and our investigation has not revealed any external IP address. The matter is under investigation," SI Pramod Sharma, posted in the Bhopal cyber cell, said.