Man blackmails boss, hacks into websites over Dh4,000 salary cut

Dubai - A letter from the general directorate of criminal evidence listed 15 websites that were hacked by the accused.

A 33-year-old man, who blackmailed his boss and then hacked into several websites, was handed a suspended jail term of three months by the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
The court was told the Indian man went berserk after his Syrian boss deducted Dh4,000 from his salary. In June 2016, he threatened to hack into several websites unless he reverted the deduction.
Apart from blackmailing and making criminal threats, the accused was charged with hacking and unlawfully logging into several websites run by the complainant's company.
The court ordered that he be deported. The incident was reported at Al Muraqqabat police station.
The complainant, a 47-year-old Syrian businessman, said he held a 20 per cent share in a media corporation. "I was a shareholder till 2016 when I left and moved to another company. The accused used to work for me as a computer programmer. His duties included setting up portals, programming and managing websites."
After three months, the accused sent an email. In the message, he excused himself from further working as a programmer.
"After informing him that he would incur our business Dh12,000 in losses, we agreed to deduct Dh2,000 per month from his salary. He accepted and worked for two months before he resigned," the businessman recalled.
The plaintiff recounted that 10 days later, the defendant sent threats to a colleague via WhatsApp. "He said that unless Dh4,000 is returned to him, he will hack into our clients' websites. He proceeded with the hack, and brought 15 of the clients' websites to a total halt."
The businessman told the public prosecution investigator that the accused made them lose several clients and pay up compensations to other clients because of contractual breach and not delivering websites to them as per their contracts.
A 34-year-old Pakistani programmer corroborated the businessman's testimony during the investigation. Copies of the threats sent by the defendant to him were used as public prosecution evidence. A letter from the general directorate of criminal evidence listed 15 websites that were hacked by the accused.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai