In Mumbai, hacker targets Congress MLA, sends emails seeking $300
MUMBAI: An unidentified man hacked into the official email account of Congress MLA Ashok Jadhav from Andheri (W) and shot off mails to his friends and partymen seeking financial aid of $300 to meet the medical expenses of his cousin and his family who had met with an accident in India. The hacker, impersonating as Jadhav, said he was on a foreign visit.
On Wednesday, Jadhav approached the cyber police station in Bandra-Kurla Complex. Investigators said this kind of fraud is called the Nigerian phishing scam.
The email was sent on Wednesday morning, and immediately Jadhav was flooded with calls inquiring about him and his family members' well-being and how they could transfer the money. "The first call I received was from Congress MP Gurudas Kamat. It is then I realized that someone has hacked into my mail account... I am in Mumbai and nothing has gone wrong," Jadhav told TOI.
"A case has been registered against the fraudster for phishing into the mail account. Jadhav's email account has been hacked and mails have been sent to all his contacts," said senior police inspector Prashant Mardhe.
"The first email sent to Jadhav's contacts reads, 'Sorry to bother you, please I need your urgent help and was wondering if I can get one from you.' Those who replied received another mail in which the fraudster demanded $300," said an officer.
The second email reads, "My cousin and his family had an accident here in India and his wife who was driving at the time is already dead. I need to pay the hospital bill for his and his three-year-old son whose leg was broken. I will pay back once am back home next week. I didn't come with my phone cause I was in a rush, so I currently have no access to phone calls from as it will take up to 72 hours before I can get an IDDS service registered in my name, else I would have love to call, Please let me know if you can help, get back to me as soon as you can. Please keep this between us."
Preliminary probe revealed the hacker used proxy servers as the email account had been accessed from Delhi and the UK on three occasions.
MUMBAI: An unidentified man hacked into the official email account of Congress MLA Ashok Jadhav from Andheri (W) and shot off mails to his friends and partymen seeking financial aid of $300 to meet the medical expenses of his cousin and his family who had met with an accident in India. The hacker, impersonating as Jadhav, said he was on a foreign visit.
On Wednesday, Jadhav approached the cyber police station in Bandra-Kurla Complex. Investigators said this kind of fraud is called the Nigerian phishing scam.
The email was sent on Wednesday morning, and immediately Jadhav was flooded with calls inquiring about him and his family members' well-being and how they could transfer the money. "The first call I received was from Congress MP Gurudas Kamat. It is then I realized that someone has hacked into my mail account... I am in Mumbai and nothing has gone wrong," Jadhav told TOI.
"A case has been registered against the fraudster for phishing into the mail account. Jadhav's email account has been hacked and mails have been sent to all his contacts," said senior police inspector Prashant Mardhe.
"The first email sent to Jadhav's contacts reads, 'Sorry to bother you, please I need your urgent help and was wondering if I can get one from you.' Those who replied received another mail in which the fraudster demanded $300," said an officer.
The second email reads, "My cousin and his family had an accident here in India and his wife who was driving at the time is already dead. I need to pay the hospital bill for his and his three-year-old son whose leg was broken. I will pay back once am back home next week. I didn't come with my phone cause I was in a rush, so I currently have no access to phone calls from as it will take up to 72 hours before I can get an IDDS service registered in my name, else I would have love to call, Please let me know if you can help, get back to me as soon as you can. Please keep this between us."
Preliminary probe revealed the hacker used proxy servers as the email account had been accessed from Delhi and the UK on three occasions.
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