Cyber crook spoils honeymoon

Rs 3 lakh siphoned off from bank account; the couple had planned a trip to Europe

There won't be a honeymoon in a foreign land for newly married Anup Shaw, as some unknown cyber criminal siphoned off all his savings. Anup (29) had collected around Rs 3 lakh in his account and had planned a 15-day Europe trip. He, along with his wife, were supposed to fly to Frankfurt on 28 October but a hacker withdrew Rs 2,97,500 from the account.


You've been conned: Anup Shaw

"I could not believe this has happened to me. I work for an IT company and am generallyu00a0 cautious. On Saturday, I went to withdraw some cash, when the ATM showed I had insufficient balance. I was shocked to see that I was left with hardly any money. I immediately contacted my bank and asked them to close my account and filed a complaint," said Anup.

Anup's bank gave him his account statement that showed around 21 transactions made from Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow and Delhi. "I never went to these places. Then I recalled that in the first week of September, I received a call from a Mumbai number and the caller said he was calling from my bank. He asked for my account details. Although I did not disclose my password, but told them my account, card and CVV number," said Anup.

The home branch of Anup's bank clarified it was the a clear case of cyber crime. Anup has lodged a complaint with the police and the bank. "We have forwarded his case to our investigation department and are trying to fetch detail of all the 21 transactions made during the period," said a bank official in a mail. "Now I have no option but to postpone my honeymoon. If I don't get my money back,u00a0 I won't be able to go to Europe and will have to settle for a trip to Simla or Manali," rued Anup.

Verify your emails
Beware of replying to any email sent by your bank without proper authentication. A Noida-based marketing executive, Vivek Dabral, learnt this the hard way when he replied to a seemingly innocuous mail. "In October, I got a mail from my bank asking me to verify my account details. The mail appeared so authentic that I replied and didn't even check my account. Although it was a salary account, I was using it for my savings as well. On November 11, when I tried to open the account online, I couldn't do so with my existing password. I then asked for a new password. When I finally checked the account, I found Rs 1,31,000 missing," said Vivek. "There was Rs 1,42,000 in my account and now only Rs 10,531 are left. According to the bank statement, from 25 October to 1 November, the hacker made 146 transactions," he lamented. Most transactions were of mobile payment from Mumbai and Gurgaon. Fortunately, 13 transactions failed. "I have given a written complain to the police," said Vivek.