Cyber fraud uses malware to hack phones via messaging apps: Delhi police

The city police force has stumbled upon a rare cyber fraud with the arrest of a 33-year-old Nigerian national who allegedly hacked phones and used messaging apps such as WhatsApp to either blackmail the owner or impersonate the person to ask money from their contacts.

Police said that in this case, the accused, Chimelum Emmanuel Aniwetalu, alias Maurice Degri, sent a malware links — disguised as links for gifts and lucrative offers — to gain control of the victim’s phone.

While a similar fraud in which email accounts of victims are hacked has become common in the last 10-15 years,