Odisha teenage hacker arrested for causing Rs 60 lakh loss to Hyderabad company

On 29 May, the Cyderabad police arrested a 19-year-old from Odisha, for hacking into a toll-free number of a company based in Hyderabad, resulting in a loss of Rs 60 lakh for the said company.

The teenager, Himalaya Mohanty, a resident of Balasore district of Odisha who studies at an ITI, allegedly learnt computer hacking on a website and managed to get the code of an EPABX of toll-free number of the customer care centre of Lloyd Electricals and Engineering Ltd.

He put the code online by creating his own website.

"Thousands of net surfers made free calls by using the code and the company received a hefty bill of about Rs 60 lakh," a police press release said.

Though he used proxy servers, police zeroed in on his location and arrested him at his village in Balasore district.

"In spite of his poor English, he got himself registered in various forums/websites of hacking and participating in chatting by using translator software... He did not gain monetarily in this case," the police release said, adding that he told the officers that he did it only for fun.

--PTI