Mumbai police fall prey to cyber crime, salary accounts with Axis Bank hacked

City police formed a special team to investigate the case

Mumbai police personnel Sangam Patil (name change) was shocked to read an SMS saying that Rs 9,000 had been debited from his salary account. On the other hand, Sarjerao Dhere (name changed) was also taken aback after he noticed that Rs 50,000 was debited from his bank account.

These are only two of the total 37 accounts with Axis Bank that were hacked today. The money was withdrawn in Euros from ATM machines in Greece, possibly through cloned debit cards. 

Of the 37 hacked accounts, about 15 are of police personnel so far noticed by the city police. Total amount debited was Rs 15.47 lakhs of which 2.50 lakhs is from the salary accounts of policemen.

State director general of police Sanjeev Dayal and city police discussed the issue with Axis Bank and a team headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) has been formed to investigate the matter. FIR has been lodged with Colaba Police Station.

Moreover, Axis Bank has also formed an inquiry panel. City police official told Business Standard, "Axis Bank has assured to return the money to the police personnel through insurance scheme.” Besides, the official informed that Axis Bank has been asked to probe the matter and submit its report.

Axis Bank's spokesperson said, “A small number of our customers’ accounts (less than 50) have been impacted through transactions at compromised ATMs in Mumbai belonging to multiple banks. 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 and are working closely with law enforcement officials in this regard. We wish to assure our customers that Axis Bank stands committed to protecting their interests and that we have the necessary systems to ensure the same."

Meanwhile, cyber expert Vijay Mukhi said it was a case of cloning where in the hackers have succeeded in copying the magnetic stripe placed on the back of the ATM card and also the pin by inserting two small machines in the ATM machine. “Hacker must have sold it to somebody who has withdrawn the money from Greece.

Mukhi suggested that ATMs can be upgraded to the use of chip based cards which cannot be cloned.  Further, the banks should focus on location tracking to avoid incidents of hacking.