Monday, May 20, 2013

CYBER FRAUD: 2.44 CRORE SIPHONED FROM RPG GROUP

By Mahesh Amte / Mumbai

Last week cyber criminals hacked into the current account of  Harsh Goenka-led  RPG Group and siphoned off Rs 2.4 crore through 13 transactions in Mumbai. Even though Yes Bank blocked the accounts of the illegal beneficiaries, and the police seem to have nabbed the hackers, the two corporates continue to play the blame game.

According to a report,Yes Bank  has held that the account holder responsible for prevention of misuse at his end, while the bank is only  responsible for  the back-end which it claims is safe. RPG, on the other hand, has denied having compromised on the user identities and passwords, but Yes Bank maintained the account was hacked from the company’s end.
The two organisations are expected to meet today to settle the issue. The Mumbai police are investigating the cyber fraud that led to the hacking of bank accounts of RPG Life on May 11. According to a Times of India report, the three men who received the money in their accounts, were arrested in Coimbatore and Hyderabad and brought to Mumbai on Saturday.

“The 13 fraudulent transactions were done through Real Time Gross Settlement, through which funds over Rs 2 lakh are transferred in real time from one account to another,” the report said.

In January this year, a trojan malware sent via email enabled hackers to siphon off another Rs 1 crore from the current account of  Mulund cosmetics company. In  financial year 2010-11, banks in Mumbai reported 787 fraud cases involving Rs.1,049 crore, the tally for the national capital was 335 cases, with the net amount lost being Rs 269 crore, according to the documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

There have been many attempts by ‘ethical’ hackers going rogue, resulting in the breach of cyber security of companies as well as individuals, causing financial loss and damage of reputation. According to Mayur Joshi, CEO, Indiaforensic.com, a company engaged in forensic accounting, prevention, detection and investigation of frauds, almost all major groups are victimised by such frauds.

Taking cue from the recent frauds in West Bengal, bankers are already planning on a new set of security measures on the electronic fund transfers for current account holders and saving bank account holders. Moreover, vulnerabilities have been found in Iphones and other mobiles that are increasingly used on wireless hotspots.

Along with banks, the government also needs to wake up to online security needs. While the RPG Group is a corporate fraud which can be handled by legal experts, 

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