Hacker Takes Over E-mail Account of Congress Leader in India

Senior leader of the Indian Congress Party and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has his e-mail account hacked and the attacker is using it to send out fraudulent e-mails requesting for monetary assistance.

The e-mails began coming from Aiyar's private Hotmail account on June 10, 2009 and distributed among all his contacts in his e-mail book.

Their text showing the name 'Mani' in the signature field stated that the sender was sorry about not informing the recipient of his visit to England to attend a seminar. The text further revealed that he had misplaced his wallet, which contained his money and other important items, while he was heading to his hotel. Therefore, he humbly requested to the recipient to send him some money as loan.

The fraudulent message also stated that the sender would require $3,500 to clear his hotel bills as well as to get himself back to India. He would appreciate any amount that the recipient could afford to send him which he would pay back once he returned.

Thus, when Aiyar's friends contacted him, who is currently touring New York to attend a Columbia University organized seminar, he said that some miscreant had hacked his e-mail. Aiyar also said that the hacker had changed his password which prevented him from accessing his account and so he requested everyone to ignore the malicious message, as reported by The Times of India on June 11, 2009.

In the meantime, concerned about the increasing number of cyber offenses involving hackers' attacks against reputed persons, the Delhi Police urged netizens through an advisory to safeguard themselves against professional cyber criminals.

Security experts have cautioned Internet users against following links within e-mails asking for account details, as they might be online fraudsters' phishing e-mails.

Moreover, in a same kind of news story, Rina Dhaka, an Indian fashion designer, had hackers compromise her account during the 1st week of June 2009 when phony e-mails were dispatched to her acquaintances stating that Dhaka was stranded in London with her money bag lost so she needed $2,000 from the recipient to return home.

Related article: Hacker & Virus in MySpace

» SPAMfighter News - 6/24/2009