SpyHuman

 

SpyHuman

 

Written by ©Kavita Datar

 

"Shreya! Please get up! It's past seven. Don't you want to go to college?"

Shreya was awakened by Mom's voice.

"Shit man! Didn’t the alarm go off? How did I not hear if it did?"

Talking to herself, she picked up her mobile phone. She was annoyed to see the black screen of the mobile phone which did not show any movement.

"What is this? It was 79% charged last night. And now discharged? How’s it possible?"

Finding the charger, she turned on the mobile charging and entered the bathroom.

 

But when Shreya returned, the mobile was not charged at all. Its screen was completely dead. She was very upset.

"It needs to be repaired."

She said to herself.

 

Shreya gave her mobile phone for repair at a mobile shop near her college. The next day, she got her mobile repaired.  She was relieved after getting the mobile back on properly. She was amused to realize that, how much the five-inch mobile phone had taken over her life!

 

She called Sameer,

"Hi!"

"Where are you, Shreya? I called you at least ten to fifteen times yesterday."

"Hey! My phone was out of order. Tell me, where to meet today?"

"Listen, Mom and Dad are away for a wedding for two days. You can come over. I'll make   pasta. Let's have dinner together."

"OK. See you at seven in the evening."

 

Shreya came home floating in the air.

"Mom, I'm going to Neelu’s house, I'll be back before ten." She announced as soon as she entered the house. However, she did not forget to call Neelu and tell her plan. Still, she didn't want to reveal her secret.

She wore Sameer's favourite black and red dress. Applied dark red lipstick, eye liner and light makeup. She booked an Uber, combed her loose, silky hair once more and came down the stairs of her apartment.

Her cab stopped in front of a row house in the posh locality of the city. Her heart was pounding as she pressed the bell on the main door. Sameer opened the door as if waiting for her.

"You look so gorgeous"

Quickly closing the door, Sameer took her in his arms and brought her to the dining table. Seeing the setup, Shreya was overwhelmed. The dining room was completely dark with the lights off. Candles were lit on the table in an attractive manner. Pasta, tacos and pastries were neatly arranged by its side.

Sameer pulled up a chair for her and made her sit. He sat on a nearby chair, took her hands in his and said, "I made red pasta especially for you by watching it on YouTube." Laughing and chuckling, the two enjoyed dinner and came down in the hall.

Today, the two met almost a month later. Sameer hugged Shreya and kissed her. She kissed him back deeply. Neither of them knew when it was half past nine.

"Sameer, I have to go. I promised Mom to come back before ten."

"Come on, I'll drop you."

"Okay. Hey, let's take a selfie."

They took cute selfies together.

 

 

Shreya woke up before the alarm went off. She picked up her mobile placed on the side table. When she opened WhatsApp , she noticed a message from an unknown number. She opened it.

 

Ma’am,

Do you want to make your photos viral on social media? If not, just send Rs. 10000/- to this Google Pay number.

She downloaded the photos along with the message and quickly got out of bed. They were selfies with Sameer, which they took last night.

Shreya couldn’t figure it out. The selfies taken from her mobile have not even been shared with Sameer yet, then how did this man access them ? It was not long before she realized that her phone had been hacked. Now either she has to pay tens of thousands to this hacker and get the phone factory reset or find him. She decided to find that hacker immediately.

She called Sameer and told him everything. Sameer was in his final year of computer engineering and was a member of the Ethical Hacking and Cyber ​​Security Club at his college. So, he immediately noticed that someone had hacked Shreya's mobile phone through some spyware.

"Shreya, tell me one thing, have you given your mobile to anyone for some reason in the last two-three days?"

"Oh yes, I got it repaired yesterday from a mobile shop near college."

"This would definitely be the job of that mobile repairman. Reach that mobile shop at ten o'clock, I'll be there."

"OK Sameer, I'll be there by ten o'clock."

Shreya reached that mobile shop. She met Sameer and his friend Ankit outside the shop. Ankit was a Certified Ethical Hacker. He was an instructor in his college's cyber security club.

 

The three of them entered the mobile shop.

"Yesterday you repaired madam's mobile."

Sameer said to the person sitting at the counter.

"Yes sir, is there any problem again?"

"There's a big problem. Who repaired that phone?"

"Rafiq !!!"

As soon as he called, a boy came there, who was around 25 years of age.

"Rafiq looks after the phone repair work alone. Tell him your problem."

Saying so, the man on the counter turned to other customers.

Shreya, Sameer and Ankit came inside the shop with Rafiq. Some mobiles were kept open there.

"What spyware did you put in her phone?" Sameer asked Rafiq.

Rafiq looked scared.

"Me? I didn't do anything."

"You didn't do anything?  Shreya, please unlock your phone and give it to me."

Ankit asked. Shreya handed over the phone.

"Look, after repairing, you have installed a spyware app in this phone, do you think we are not aware of such things ? Let me check your phone."

"Why are you creating a scene in the shop, sir? I haven't done anything."

"Listen once and for all! Hand over your mobile else we will call the police!”

Sameer threatened him and grabbed his collar. He handed his mobile phone to Ankit.

When Ankit checked Rafiq's mobile, he found a spyware app called SpyHuman. Not only Shreya but also some other girls' phones were hacked and cloned. Rafiq used to install an app called SpyHuman especially in the mobile phones of girls who came for phone repair. The app appeared in the victims’ mobiles by another name. Most of the victims ignored it, thinking it would be a built-in app. With this app, Rafiq used to hack and clone the girls' phones.

He used to access all the incoming and outgoing calls, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook even UPI apps like Google Pay on those phones, blackmail them and extort money from them. He had also withdrawn money from their bank account through this app.

Hackers install such SpyHuman like apps on their laptops or mobiles as well as on the mobile phones of the person whose phone they want to hack. On the victim's phone, it appears in the list of apps as Secured Service or Wi-Fi. Hackers can have full control of victims’ mobile phones through SpyHuman. That means they can clone mobile phones. Victim's location, photo gallery, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook can all be accessed. Their intention is blackmailing, financial fraud and breach of privacy.

Some people fall victim to it. But some vigilant people like Shreya expose their dark deeds.

 

Ankit reached out to some other girls who had been duped by Rafiq and prepared to file a complaint against Rafiq. Shreya as well as some other girls' phones and Rafiq's phone were presented as evidence. Rafiq was sentenced five years jail and fined Rs. 1 lakh under sections 66 and 67 of the Indian IT 2000 Act.

If your mobile phone,

·        gets discharged unreasonably fast,

·        gets too hot,

·        Data usage is increased even when you are not using it,

·        May show unexpected popups or browser history,

·        Hangs for no reason,

·        There may be some noise in the background during incoming-outgoing calls,

Then, it might have been hacked. In this case immediately get it factory reset.

After factory reset, you will not get back your data, apps and settings but it’s better than getting hacked into and blackmailed.

Some popular apps also spy on your mobile phone, so there are some things to keep in mind:  

·       Don't share private information, photos, passwords, etc. with anyone.

·       Do not allow anyone to use your phone.

·       Mobile phone should be locked with password / PIN / pattern.

·       If it needs to be repaired, if possible, have a backup, get it erased and get it factory reset even after repair.

Stay alert and secure and enjoy the technology.

 

©Kavita Datar