Popular Sandalwood actor Upendra and his wife Priyanka Upendra have fallen victim to a cybercrime incident that led to a loss of around ₹1.5 lakh. The Sadashivanagar Police have arrested Vikas Kumar, a resident of Bihar, in connection with the online fraud case.
According to police sources, the incident began on September 15, when Priyanka booked an item online and later received a suspicious link on her mobile phone. Upon clicking the link, her WhatsApp account was hacked, and messages were sent to her contacts, asking them to urgently transfer ₹55,000.
Several friends and acquaintances, assuming the message was genuine, transferred money. Shockingly, even Upendra’s phone and their manager’s phone were compromised when Priyanka tried to contact them. In a surprising twist, the couple’s son also transferred ₹50,000, thinking the request came from his mother.
The family realised they were hacked only after multiple transactions were completed. The total amount lost was estimated to be around ₹1.5 lakh. Priyanka immediately lodged a complaint with Sadashivanagar Police, who traced the cyber trail to Dashrathpur, Bihar.
During the investigation, officers reportedly discovered that over 150 youths in the region were involved in similar cybercrimes. The accused, Vikas Kumar, was arrested and brought to Bengaluru for interrogation. The case is now being jointly probed by the Central Division Cyber Police and the Sadashivanagar Police.
Police have urged citizens to remain vigilant while clicking on unknown links and to enable multi-factor authentication on social media and messaging platforms.
