Hackers used Gmail to steal 100,000 United States Dollar in India

Cybercrime in India is a topic that largely goes unreported due to the complexity of the issue and possibly the inexperience that we...

Cybercrime in India is a topic that largely goes unreported due to the complexity of the issue and possibly the inexperience that we may have dealing with the constantly evolving modes employed by cybercriminals. A South Delhi resident has now reported that approximately Rs. 1 lakh was stolen by hackers in July by accessing his credit card details along with Gmail account that was synced with the complainants mobile phone number. While online transactions have security in place such as

verification by OTP or through email OTP, hackers have now increasingly become more capable of exploiting new modes of conducting fraud.





While the modus operandi of the fraud is not completely clear, it is learned from a TNN report that the hackers gained access into the victim's Gmail account that was synced to the mobile phone number apart from credit card details such as account number, CVV, expiry date among others. Using the credit card details, hackers somehow managed to gain access to the OTP sent to the mobile number to send amounts totalling Rs. 1 lakh to an Amazon Pay account. Amazon Pay is a wallet similar to Paytm which can be loaded with money from credit/debit cards and used to purchase items. The Amazon Pay account was tracked by to a location in Bengaluru and officials are yet to trace those involved in the fraud.

The victim first approached police officials in July, and in a complaint stated that Bank officials contacted him of large transactions being carried out through his credit card. While the victim had asked the officials to block the credit card, hackers somehow managed to unblock the credit card and carry out the fraud.

The officials then told the victim that transactions were carried out in a secure manner using the CVV along with the OTP sent the registered mobile number.
It is believed that the hackers, pretending to be Bank officials, contacted the victim 12 hours after the incident and asked him not to report the matter to the police and that the bank would process a refund within five to seven days.