Every time his mobile rings or a notification arrives, a chill runs down Chandan Kumar’s spine. For the past four months, a harasser has taken over his life. The cybercriminal has repeatedly hacked into Kumar and his wife’s phones and accessed their personal details. He has threatened to kill the Navi Mumbai resident and his children, apart from availing loans, booking hotel rooms and ordering food in his name.

Kumar’s nightmare started after his mobile phone was compromised in October. The criminal then hacked into his social media accounts and personal email as well. Armed with his personal details and copies of his passport, the hacker apparently booked rooms in Kumar’s name in countries like Australia, Thailand, Switzerland and Indonesia. Kumar, 52, a senior executive in a private organisation, said after he was alerted about the hotel bookings through emails, he wrote back to them saying it was a fraud and he had nothing to do with them.