Indian Citizen Lost Rs 32,000 to Phishing E-mail

Naveen Kumar Midha, an Indian citizen residing on Lavelle Road (Bengaluru, India), recently received a SMS alert on his mobile phone about the withdrawal of Rs 32,000 from his bank account. Before receiving the alert on mobile phone, Midha had shared his bank account details few hours earlier with an unknown person who sent him an e-mail asking him to do so.

Midha's bank informed him that the money had been withdrawn from his account. However, the bank refused to have any link with the e-mail.

In fact, Midha sent a reply to a phishing e-mail. He further said that how did he come to know that it was a phishing mail because it looked very genuine, as reported by mid-day on July 19, 2010. Midha further revealed that he had no reason to doubt it.

Moreover, Midha also filed a complaint about the incident to the Cubbon Park (Bengaluru, India) Police.

Commenting on the phishing attack, a Police Officer from the Cubbon Park Police Station said that they had filed the complaint and were investigating the case to locate the offender's IP address. They had been taking the assistance of cyber crime cell experts to locate the IP address, as reported by mid-day on July 19, 2010.

According to security experts, India has been experiencing a surge in cyber crimes like phishing on account of many factors. The most important factor among them is the lack of an effective and stringent cyber crime law. The cyber law in India is not effective instead it is counterproductive. India is the only country in the world that has the provision of bail in cyber crime cases.

It means if a person commits phishing or hacking and captured by the Police force, then he would be released on bail as a matter of right. This provision of cyber crime has made India a safe place for cyber crooks like phishers.

Besides, the lack of adequate cyber forensics and cyber security capabilities helps in the growth of cyber crimes.

Finally, security experts state that the time has come when the government should amend the Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000) of India so that cyber criminals like phishers not only nabbed by the police but also get rigorous imprisonment.

Related article: Indian Financial Industry Facing Rising Online Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 28-07-2010

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