Hackers say flooded Trai chief’s mobile with plaints, placed CoD orders for him

On Tuesday, a number of people claimed on social media that they had used information disclosed about Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma to “deliberately harass” him.

Many claimed that they had “deluged” his mobile number with telecom complaints. Some said they had registered themselves as ‘RS Sharma’ on several e-commerce sites using his email address, mobile number and house address and had placed cash on delivery (CoD) orders. TOI could not confirm any of these claims.

All this was in response to Sharma putting out his Aadhaar number on Twitter on Saturday and challenging people to cause him harm.


A slew of personal information about Sharma, including his bank account details, was put out in public by ethical hackers and security researchers, many of whom said they had obtained the information using his Aadhaar number.

The telecom complaints and so-called CoD orders were attempts to send a signal to Sharma that it is possible to cause “some amount of harm” if one’s Aadhaar details are known. Ethical hackers said they could not violate the law and go to the extent of, say, hacking bank accounts. Some claimed they had ordered items like toothpastes and towels on Sharma’s behalf.