A businessman from Lucknow loses Rs 52 lakh to cybercrime

Cyber thieves withdrew Rs 52 lakh from a private firm based out of Lucknow, where he is dealing in supply of medical equipment and instruments.

The companies bank account is in a government bank’s branch in Narhi, Hazratganj and the unauthorised transactions were made at Wednesday midnight. Somnath Chatterjee, the owner of the organisation , said he got a message of money deduction on his mobile phone.

I did not get any OTP or email as I usually do at the time of such transactions,” said Somnath. An expert says, it is a wake-up for all the account holders in the banks. A question comes on how Somnath will get his lost money and ultimately who is responsible for this cybercrime ?

Triveni Singh, SP cyber cell said, it is suspected that Somanth’s email account linked with the bank account was hacked and money was withdrawn illegally. Singh said that a case with the cyber police station under charges of dishonesty, and IT Act has been registered and probe is underway.

Singh also said that cyber criminals have launched a new type of fraud. “Without sharing OTP, or asking details of your card, a message is sent to the account holder on the phone that their balance has become zero. The hacker then offers to return the money, for which they send a link. On clicking that link, the thieves take away money from the account,” he added.

Singh further said that in another attack, cyber criminals using malware get hold of an internet banking account and call the customer saying that a specific amount has been debited for a fixed deposit. To reverse this transaction, the ‘customer’ is asked for a password. Thereafter, this generated password is used by the hackers to transfer cash to their account.