14 DAY TRIAL // Phishing schemes are quite popular these days because more and more people around the world think that tricking others into disclosing their private financial details and stealing their money is quite a simple method to earn some extra cash. But what they don't know is that once they get caught, they may be forced to spend a few years in prison, next to criminals. That sounds encouraging, doesn't it?
This is exactly the case of three people, two of them Nigerians, who were arrested by the police after having conducted a phishing scheme with approximately 30 victims. What they managed to do is actually a simple and traditional phishing scheme so, the judges who'll send the three to prison may also consider blaming victims for their naivety. How could this happen? The clients of HDFC, a local bank, received a fake email asking them to visit a link which required them to enter private details such as credit card number, PIN and other info. Once the users entered the information, the phishers received and used it to transfer money from the accounts.
According to the Hindustan Times, the phishers managed to steal no less than Rs 33.5 lakh which, if I'm not wrong, is almost 70,000 euros.
"A Kalkaji based customer of the bank complained that Rs 1.75 lakh had been transferred from his account to one Manuram Basumatari in March. The bank noticed that four such cases of phishing had also been reported from Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. To rectify the 'systemic errors' in their account, the gang asked the account holder to provide details of their accounts once again. Then they transferred money yet again from the accounts of those who responded to these mails," Anil Shukla, DCP, told the Hindustan Times.