Axis Bank accounts, several owned by Mumbai cops, hacked, Rs. 13 lakh withdrawn in Greece

Cops of Maharashtra and Mumbai Police have been hit by fraud. A total of 29 Axis bank accounts, including at least 13 salary accounts owned by Mumbai police officials, have been hacked.

The con emerged after a few constables complained to their superiors after they received text messages from the bank regarding cash withdrawals, which they claim were never made by them.

Sources say a total of Rs. 13 lakh, some of it in Euros, were withdrawn through cloned debit cards from ATMs in Greece.

"Axis bank has complained to us that 29 accounts of theirs have been hacked into of which some are policemen's accounts. We are investigating," Satyanarayan Chaudhry, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Mumbai Police, said.

The identity of the hacker or hackers is still unknown.

Apart from the cops, there were others like Nitesh Gupta, a chartered accountant, whose accounts were hacked. Rs. 44,000 were taken from Mr Gupta's account.

"On the evening of June 8. I was having dinner with my wife at a restaurant. I had just opened the menu and I got a text message that said money, a lot of it, was withdrawn from my account via an ATM," Mr Gupta said.

Axis Bank has been asked to investigate the matter and submit a report soon.

"We have reversed the impact in all such customers' accounts with immediate effect, to ensure they are not inconvenienced. We are undertaking a full investigation into the incident," the bank said in a statement today. (Read statement)

IT expert Vijay Mukhi says, "In this particular case it's a systemic failure on part of the bank. All we can hope and pray is that banks move to newer more robust technologies"

The problem for Mumbai police is that the hacker(s) could be Greece and they will need help from the Centre to pursue the investigation.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/axis-bank-accounts-several-owned-by-mumbai-cops-hacked-rs-13-lakh-withdrawn-in-greece-379752