Hacking Attack on Transport Secretary of Karnataka

In a new wave of scam e-mails, fraudsters have hacked the hotmail account of the Transport Secretary of Karnataka (India) and sent messages to his friends and colleagues.

As someone hacked the Hotmail account of M K Shankarlinge Gowda, Transport Secretary of Karnataka (India), his acquaintances and friends received a desperate sounding e-mail on April 13, 2010.

According to the e-mail, Gowda was stuck at the airport in London and had lost all the documents. The e-mail asked the recipients to wire 3,500 pounds to assist Gowda in coming out of the trouble.

Gowda told Express in the second week of April 2010, he never sent such type of e-mail and he was in Bangalore at that time.

Reportedly, the minister came to know of this e-mail scam after being told by a friend about the received e-mail and its false content.

After learning about the scam, Gowda immediately tried access his e-mail account, but to his surprise the website did not accept his password.

Gowda said that his e-mail account with Hotmail was created while he was working as the secretary for medical education. The account is listed on the website of the Medical Council of India. He added that hackers might have noted the e-mail ID from the website itself.

He has appealed to all the potential recipients of the fake e-mail to not to fall for the scam and also not to transfer money to the account referred therein.

Gowda has also lodged a complaint with Vidhana Soudha Police (Karnataka, India) on April 21, 2010. In the complaint, the Minister has asked the police to chase the hackers responsible for committing the cybercrime and leaving him in embarrassment.

The Vidhana Soudha Police are taking the help of cybercrime sleuths to trap the hackers.

Meanwhile, on a precautionary note, the cops have asked the Minister to reset his password to avoid any further damage.

A Senior Police Officer stated that the police are trying best to find the IP address from where this e-mail was generated, as per the statement published by mid-day.com on April 22, 2010.

Moreover, hackers have targeted many other Indian Ministers besides Gowda. In June 2009, hackers hit the Hotmail account of Mani Shankar Aiyar, Senior Congress politician. His e-mail account was hacked and e-mails were sent to people claiming that his wallet was lost and an urgent rescue in terms of money was required to return home.

Related article: Hacking Attacks Are Increasing to Haunt Banks

» SPAMfighter News - 5/3/2010