Internet bot developed by minor was used to send threat mails to schools

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A young computer programmer from Tamil Nadu is in trouble after the internet bots developed by him were misused by unknown people for sending bomb threats to schools in Bengaluru and Bhopal.

On April 8, more than six schools in Bengaluru had reportedly received bomb threat emails from unknown sources. The students were evacuated following the chaos.

The email read, “A very powerful bomb has been planted in your school. This is not a joke, immediately call the police and sappers, hundreds of lives may suffer, including yours, do not delay, now everything is only in your hands!.”

Following the incident even more schools claimed to have received a similar email. According to Bengaluru police, a case in this regard had been registered under the Infor mation Technology (IT) Act 66 (F). It was revealed that the 17 year old was paid $200 in Bitcoins by a foreigner to develop the bots which can access multiple email IDs.

Following the incident even more schools claimed to have received a similar email. According to Bengaluru police, a case in this regard had been registered under the Infor mation Technology (IT) Act 66 (F). It was revealed that the 17 year old was paid $200 in Bitcoins by a foreigner to develop the bots which can access multiple email IDs.

Later on April 24, the police, who had been tracking emails, wrote to Google and sought information based on which the four servers have been identified to be located in Pakistan.

The Bhopal police probing the case discovered that the IP address of the developer belonged to a resident of Salem in Tamil Nadu. They zeroed in on that and found that a 17-year-old boy was the culprit.

Meanwhile, the cybercrime branch of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh police have decided to issue notice to the teen to seek his help for getting tip-offs about the accused who had sent threat emails to their respective states.