In August 2023, Sumi Akter (not her real name), a second-year student at Lalmatia Government Mohila College, was getting ready for bed when she received an unusual message on Facebook Messenger from a college friend.

The message read: “You look so amazing in this video! Where was it taken?” along with a hyperlink. Curious, Sumi clicked on the link, not knowing that this single click would soon bring turmoil to her life.

A few days later, Sumi received another message from the same Facebook account. This time, it contained several personal photos that she had previously shared with her boyfriend along with a demand of Tk 20,000.

Confused and distraught, Sumi reached out to her boyfriend, who had also received the same message.

When she contacted her friend, the answer was shocking – her friend’s account had been compromised six months ago. “I couldn’t help but burst into tears,” said Sumi.

Realizing that her Facebook account had been hacked, Sumi, the daughter of a government official, decided to pay Tk 10,000 (to the hacker) to protect her family and personal reputation. “The story could have ended there, but it didn’t. Recently, he asked me for money again,” she said.

When she refused to pay, the blackmailer created a group with some of Sumi’s friends and threatened to share the compromising photos.

On October 20, Sumi reported the incident to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police. The CID’s Cyber ​​Support Center launched an investigation, which led to the arrest of Fazle Hasan Anik, the sole suspect, from a house in Uttara on October 27.

Anik, a civil engineering student at the International University of Agriculture and Business Technology (IUBAT), hails from Majhgaon union, Baraigram upazila, Natore.

At a press conference today (Oct 28), CID Cyber ​​Police Center Deputy Inspector General SN Md Nazrul Islam revealed that Anik hacked more than 50 accounts by sending phishing links through Facebook Messenger.

In the past two years, he regularly blackmailed 15 people for money. A case has been registered against him at Mohammadpur police station.

“In order not to be caught by the police, he did not accept money through mobile financial services such as bKash or Nagad. Instead, he collected payments at various supermarkets or in cryptocurrencies. He has a Binance account from where he collected the payments,” explained Nazrul Islam . .

“To hide his identity, Anik took cryptocurrency payments. Besides, he would shop at the shops and instruct the victims to pay the bill through bKash or Nagad,” he added.

The police official urged caution when using social media, advising users: “Always avoid phishing links, use strong passwords and be very cautious when sharing personal photos.”