Don't 'bank' on the internet!

Cyber criminals siphon off Rs 26,900 from Rohini resident's account

Internet banking is convenient, but it also has its pitfalls as Rohini resident Shikha Nirankari found out. Shikha was recently duped of Rs 26,900 by cyber criminals.



The victim, who holds account number 52211932066 with Standard Chartered Bank, Patel Chowk, received a mail which said that she needed to get her internet banking activated in 24 hours or her account would close down.

"The mail appeared so authentic that I could not make out it was a fake. It had the logo of the bank and as I clicked it a new page opened, which asked about my account details. After submitting it the screen flashed a 'thank you' message," said Shikha.

The next day, at around 1 pm, she got a call from mobile number +91-9930084823. "A lady who claimed that she was an executive from the bank called up. She knew about the form which I had filled and again started asking about my details and said that this was a standard verification process. She sounded so professional that I was being set up. As soon as I disconnected the phone I got a message that Rs 26,900 from my bank account had been transferred to another account," said the victim.

Shikha immediately contacted the bank and informed about the incident. She also lodged a complaint with the Parliament Street Police Station. When Shikha called back on the number she found that the phone was switched off. Then she noticed that the email that she had received had originated from the ID postmaster@elsubte.com. She also found out that the money had been transferred to account number 22310817214 with the same bank.

"Bank representatives said they have never sent the mail nor have they made any calls and the account in which the money was transferred is with the same bank. So they have been monitoring it and as soon any transaction is made they will take the money from the account," she added.

A senior official of Standard Chartered Bank said: "Yes we have received the complaint and it seems like a case of cyber crime. Our investigation department is looking into the matter. We are also tracing the details of the account holder."

"We have been educating and informing our customers that we don't ask for any details over the mail or phone. If a client feels suspicious about something, he/she can inform us on our customer care number," he added.
Cyber crime experts say criminals are getting smarter by the day and are coming up with newer ways to dupe people.

"Cyber criminals may look or sound so professional that it becomes hard to identify them. But if the customer is a little careful, he can easily tell the difference. For any banking related issues I would suggest a visit to the nearest branch. There have been cases where bank officials were seen working with criminals by passing on details, so one needs to be extra careful," said Sunny Vaghela, cyber crime expert and owner of Techdefence.

File i-t returns with care
Cyber crooks are on the prowl this financial year closing and are using phishing attacks and hoax-alerts to gain access to account details of individuals who have filed their Income Tax returns online, warn experts.
"It is the season of income tax returns. Many people file them online. Cyber criminals use this time to launch phishing attacks through emails as many people are not aware of these things," says Vinoo Thomas, Technical Product Manager, McAfee Labs.

Japanese jinx
MiD DAY had reported recently that within hours of the tragedy in Japan, malware writers had started creating scripts and infected links related to earthquake and Tsunami.
"Cyber criminals pick up news very quickly and in the case of Japan it took them hardly a few hours. We knew that they would try to cash in on this tragedy, but these links started appearing in a record-breaking time - less than three hours after the earthquake," said Vivek Vohra, a Delhi-based ethical hacker.
Even social networking websites, which helped in passing on updated information during the calamity, have become a new arena to spread malware.
The motives of these cyber crooks are not only related to monetary gains but are also about creating panic.
"Scammers are also flooding e-mail inboxes with messages asking recipients to donate money to relief efforts. This is very typical, especially with disasters, because they can ask for donations or pose as a legitimate charitable organisation," said Jagannath Patnaik, director, channel sales (South Asia), Kaspersky Lab.
Trend Micro reported on a phishing site that had 'Japan' in its URL, saying that the site was harvesting e-mail addresses and other personal information from unsuspecting users. "We have already seen fake donation sites, spam," said Amit Nath, country manager (India) and SAARC, Trend Micro.
He added: "Users who really want to make a donation should ensure that they do so only on trusted sites. They manually double-check the URLs they are connecting to. Do not trust email messages offering 'one-click-donation' or similar services."