Kochi: An unidentified gang has hacked the Facebook (FB) pages of several prominent personalities, including minister K Rajan and former minister K K Shailaja.

The hacking was done to swindle money through fake sites and tap information by intruding into computers and mobile phones. They resorted to fraud by posting links to bogus lotteries and spurious drugs, as well as links that have software capable of extracting information on the FB pages.

Cyber expert and Cyber Security Foundation founder Jiyas Jamal said the technical experts had to remove over 2,000 such posts from the Facebook page of K Rajan. The minister today shared on social media the information of him getting back his account.

The Facebook pages of Kochi Corporation Mayor M Anil Kumar, Aluva MLA Anwar Sadath, former MLA of Kunnathunadu V P Sajeendran and minister V N Vasavan were among the several social media pages hacked recently. The hackers hack verified pages to convince people of their authenticity.

The Facebook accounts of several film actors and celebrities were recently hacked as well.

The links posted on these pages are usually blocked in India and are boosted in foreign countries by paying an amount. Hence, such posts are not visible in India. In several low-income countries, if a nominal amount is given, fake advertisements can be easily boosted. The aim is to extract information and make financial gains by intruding into the mobile numbers of several people through the links posted.

Once people click on the links, the apps that track people get installed. There are international gangs that hijack verified pages and sell them for a premium.

Recently, social media networks, including Facebook, hiked advertisement rates in countries like India that depend on online platforms for advertisements. However, in African countries and low-income countries, there are opportunities to take ads to people by paying small amounts.

The gangs make use of this to commit fraud. Once a person clicks on the links after seeing the posts, his/her private accounts, including bank accounts, get hacked. The hackers are mostly from Cambodia, Thailand, Egypt, and China.

The best safeguard against such fraud is not to click on unnecessary links that arrive through messages and WhatsApp. Jiyas says that one should make sure before clicking on a link and sharing an offer that it is owned by a trusted company.