Hacker defrauds MNC of Rs 6 lakh ($11,178)

CHANDIGARH: A hacker accessed the email ID of a manager of a Chandigarh-based multinational company and fraudulently took away $11,178 (around Rs 6 lakh) from its US-based customer. The customer had placed an order of machines with the firm. The CEO of M/s Khosla Machines Private Ltd, Mohali, Darshan Kumar, came to know about the cheating when the US-based customer asked about his order. The cyber cell probing the case stated that the hacker accessed the email ID of the company’s local manager, Sunil Kumar Bhardwaj, created a new ID and told the client that henceforth he would contact him through the new Id. He later asked the customer to deposit the amount inHDFC Bank in Mumbai instead of Citi Bank, where the firm has its account. A case under Section 66-D of Information Technology (IT) Act has been registered at Sector 17 police station. Cyber cell in charge inspector Neeraj Sarna said the culprit asked the customer to deposit $11,178 in two installments in a Mumbai-based branch of HDFC Bank. The account — opened on the basis of forged documents — in HDFC Bank was in the name of Kalpna Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which too was found to be fake. The police said the US resident had deposited the amount in October. The fraudster had withdrawn the money through a cheque the day it was deposited. Bhardwaj’s ID was hacked through a server of the Netherlands. The company, which has its head office here, deals in packaging machines. source