Jaipur: The cybercrime investigation unit of the Rajasthan police arrested a cyber hacker for allegedly stealing a large set of customer data from a leading online lingerie company to extort money from them.
The Rajasthan police identified the accused as Sanjay Soni, a resident of Udaipur. He was arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG) on May 30. As per officials, the accused wanted to reap a windfall by extorting money from the company by blackmailing them.
He also gave a communal overtone to the incident to mount pressure on the company. “In a series of tweets, Soni alleged that the compromised data belonged to lakhs of women from a specific religious community and was being sold internationally,” the official said, adding that the accused posted social media messages for women to remain alert about their identities being compromised online.
As a result of the incident, the investigation was transferred to the SOG, which successfully traced and apprehended the accused in Udaipur. Sources suspect that Soni already extorted a significant amount of money from the company, likely in US dollars. An official stated, “Soni has gained notoriety for his actions because we have learnt that there are multiple cases registered against him in cities like Mumbai and Lucknow,” one official said.
The police’s primary investigation also revealed that Soni was part of an online community involved in hacking. “While some hackers identify security problems in company websites and are rewarded for their detection of bugs, Soni intended to exploit these lapses for financial gain,” said the official.
The Rajasthan police identified the accused as Sanjay Soni, a resident of Udaipur. He was arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG) on May 30. As per officials, the accused wanted to reap a windfall by extorting money from the company by blackmailing them.
He also gave a communal overtone to the incident to mount pressure on the company. “In a series of tweets, Soni alleged that the compromised data belonged to lakhs of women from a specific religious community and was being sold internationally,” the official said, adding that the accused posted social media messages for women to remain alert about their identities being compromised online.
As a result of the incident, the investigation was transferred to the SOG, which successfully traced and apprehended the accused in Udaipur. Sources suspect that Soni already extorted a significant amount of money from the company, likely in US dollars. An official stated, “Soni has gained notoriety for his actions because we have learnt that there are multiple cases registered against him in cities like Mumbai and Lucknow,” one official said.
The police’s primary investigation also revealed that Soni was part of an online community involved in hacking. “While some hackers identify security problems in company websites and are rewarded for their detection of bugs, Soni intended to exploit these lapses for financial gain,” said the official.
