[ISN] Indian woman hacker nabbed in Philippines

[InfoSec News]

http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13557774

02 September, 2004
 
Manila: An Indian woman has been arrested for allegedly leading a gang
which hacked into the Philippines telecommunications system to make
unauthorised long-distance calls, officials said today.

Pooja Khemlani was arrested in her Manila apartment earlier this week
after her husband, also an Indian citizen, reported her to the police,
the immigration bureau said in a statement.

Khemlani allegedly financed a gang which tapped into the telephone
systems of some 369 institutions, including private companies,
government agencies and foreign embassies to make unauthorised
long-distance calls for which they charged a fee, the bureau said.

Their activities cost the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. some
197 million pesos (3.5 million dollars) in lost revenues, the bureau
charged.

Two other Indians and a Bangladeshi were arrested in July in
connection with the case. Khemlani is also the principal suspect in
allegedly smuggling 11 Indians into the southern Philippines in 2002.

She is being investigated for possible involvement in illegal dollar
trading, drug trafficking and smuggling of medicine and jewellery, the
bureau added.