Mumbai Crime: Scamsters use MBVV police commissioner's photo to hack phones

This WhatsApp grab shows that the accused had used Sadanand Date’s photograph as his display picture

Earlier, scamsters had used the photograph of the Mumbai police commissioner and cheated several people, but now they are using the picture of the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police commissioner Sadanand Date to target citizens in the area. The police said the accused is posing as CP Date and offering gift vouchers at cheapest rates.

According to the police officials, hundreds of citizens from Mira Road to Virar residents received WhatsApp messages from the name of CP Sadanand Date on Friday. The scamsters also used Date's photo as their WhatsApp profile picture.

When a police official also received the message, he informed CP Date, who immediately alerted the citizens. "The scamsters chats with the citizens and asks them to download a software, which will end up hacking your mobile system," a police officer explained.

The police are in search of these accused. Few months back mid-day published the same modus operandi where fraudsters used ex CP Hemant Nagrale and Joint CP Vishwas Nagre Patil photos on the social media.