Masud did not go very far in education but became a self-taught IT wizard. However, he used his IT knowledge to enter the world of cyber- crime. Working as a hacker, he used to befriend women and when the relations became deeper, took intimate photos from them. Later, hacking the accounts of the unsuspecting women, Masud, threatened with blackmail and the women, afraid of losing social respect, gave him money.
Such a victim was Miss World Bangladesh runner up Nishat Nawar Salwa. Her Facebook ID was hacked and Masud demanded Tk 10,000 to return her ID. However, Nishat went to the police cyber- crime unit, who later arrested Masud.
Senior assistant commissioner of police, Ishtiaq Ahmed, says: “Masud used to hack the IDs of actresses and models regularly and introduce himself as a student of the department of English of NSU.”
“After infiltrating ID’s of women, he used to take sensitive images of them from their accounts and blackmail them for money, said the police officer.
During quizzing by the police, Samir al Masud, has said that he has taken up to Tk 50,000 from victims and, in some cases, did not even return the hacked accounts.
He admitted to hacking the accounts of well-known celebrities like Iresh Zaker, Tamalika, Maria Nur, Sharlin Hossain and others.
Cyber security officials say that at the beginning of 2019, Samir al Masud was arrested in a hacking case under Kalabagan thana.
At that time, he spent 1.5 months in jail. After being released, he went back to his profession.
Reportedly, Samir is a yaba addict and hacks other people’s accounts to buy drugs.
Cyber security officials say that several hackers are under police vigilance and has asked everyone to refrain from exchanging personal photos through social media accounts.
Police official, Ishtiaq Ahmed, warns: “People have to be more conscious about using social media platforms; while using Internet, they have to give importance to security implications.”