Posted on 9:03 AM
A new unique type of phishing attack targeted against online banking customers was recently discovered by the RSA FraudAction Research Lab. RSA has coined this as a "Chat-in-the-Middle" phishing attack and it is first executed through routine means but then presents a more advanced layer of perpetrating online fraud.
The September Fraud report of RSA reveals how "Chat-in-the-Middle" Phishing Attack Attempts to Steal Consumers' Data via "Bogus Live Chat Support" downloaded from the website.
Here are the highlights:
* The phishing attack may dupe bank customers into entering their usernames and passwords into an ordinary phishing site but the addition of a bogus live chat support window can obtain even more credentials via a live chat session initiated by fraudsters.
* During the live chat session, the fraudster behind the attack presents himself as a representative of the bank's fraud department and attempts to dupe customers who are online into divulging sensitive information – such as answers to secret questions that are used for online customer authentication.
* While the fraudster chats with the victim through the bogus live chat window, the chat messages are processed in the background through a Jabber module located on the fraudster's computer.
* Jabber is an open source instant messaging (IM) protocol which has recently been gaining popularity among fraudsters for the purpose of receiving stolen credentials in real-time.
* As previously reported by RSA, Jabber was being used by fraudsters to forward stolen credentials from infected computers in real-time from a Zeus Trojan's drop server to Trojan herders. While the browser based chat window does not require victims to have Jabber or an IM application installed on their computer, Jabber is used by the fraudster to manage the one-on-one chat on the back-end.
* India is amongst the top ranking countries in terms of bulk of phishing attacks and also attack volume during August.
Source: ciol.com
Posted on 11:31 AM
Supervisor of handloom department of Vadodara Central Jail was arrested on Saturday for conspiring to siphon off cotton produce worth
Rs 3.44 lakh.
According to police, accused Jagdish Rajpura, resident of Yoginagar Society in Chhani area, allegedly hoarded the cotton supply weighing 1,210 kg. The scam was busted after jail superintendent noticed discrepancies in the original and duplicate credit slips used for availing the cotton supply from National Handloom Development Corporation in Coimbatore.
Rajpura was arrested on the complaint of Punja Solanki, the jail factory manager. Solanki alleged that after the cotton supply arrived in the jail on Saturday, two credit slips were made for auditing. When both original and duplicate slips were sent to the superintendent for signature, 1,980 kg cotton was found missing. The further inquiry led to the expose.
"We've sought Rajpura's two-day remand to find out whether more officials are involved in this scam and the number of times they indulged in this malpractice in the past," said an official from Raopura police station.
Source: TOI/Sandesh
Posted on 11:29 AM
Kaustubh Chokshi, the director of Powai-based Sadhrta Retail Ltd, who had been arrested for allegedly duping over 1100 investors to the tune of over Rs 3 crore, is not an average white-collared criminal. He hails from a family of businessmen and holds a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the University of Sunderland (UK) and a degree in business management. Even as the Powai police are probing his alleged involvement in the scam, Chokshi has reportedly denied all the allgations against him and put blame on Sanjay Mehta, the company’s director (finance).
“Chokshi claimed that the ‘double your money within 20 days offer’ was conceptualised and executed by Mehta to revive the firm. According to him, Mehta’s two agents were responsible for snaring the investors and goading them into investing the maximum amount of money possible,” said Assistant Police Inspector S Waral.
Sadhrta— an e-commerce company that was nearing bankruptcy— had decided to launch an IPO to revive the company. Chokshi and his father Upen Chokshi also own Intelligence Business Systems (IBS), an IT company. Also, Chokshi had started another IT firm, Déjà vu Solutions, in January 2009.
In an investors update document that has been uploaded on Sadhrta’s website in September 2008, Chokshi writes, “Sadhrta Retail Pvt Ltd is Sadhrta Retail Ltd (SRL), a public limited company, with effect from September 2008, a great milestone for all of us. This is the first step required to take your company to the public with the forthcoming IPO.”
Chokshi would not have realised that exactly after a year, he would be behind bars for allegedly duping the investors who had been assured good returns. “Over 33 investors have come to us and we have recorded statements from some of them. We expect many more to come forward as a major chunk of investors’ money, around Rs 2.41 crore is in a frozen account. Many of the investors hail from middle-class families and a few have even sold off valuables to invest in the scheme,” said DCP, Zone X, Prakash Mutyal.
Source:Indian Express
Posted on 11:15 AM
Padma Bhat pulled off quite a scam while pretending to run an old age home in Nagadevanahalli. She took loans from several banks by
pledging fake documents but, her luck has run out and the Chandra Layout police are now searching for her.
Since 2005, she has taken loans to the tune of Rs 20 lakh from Vijaya Bank in Chandra Layout. The crime came to light when bank officials went to seize the property, which the defaulting Padma had pledged with them. But, they realized the documents are fake.
When they filed a complaint with the Chandra Layout police, it came to light that she'd taken loans of Rs 30 lakh from HDFC Bank and Rs 25 lakh from KSFC too. The police figured out that Padma had managed to get loans from several financial institutions by pledging the same documents and the total amount could be around Rs 7 crore.
Source:TOI
Posted on 11:14 AM
Rajagopal, joint director of State Directorate of Economics and Statistics, was arrested by the Jayanagar police in the city, on the allegations of defrauding a number of NGOs to the tune of two crore rupees. The policemen made the arrest, based on a complaint received from Professional Software Consultants, which said it had been defrauded by Rajagopal.
The Jayanagar police informed that Rajagopal had, during the last couple of years, contacted about 200 NGOs. He had informed them that he was handling a project on AIDS, tuberculosis and sex workers, a centrally funded project. He reportedly collected huge sums from them, duly assuring to return the same after receiving the data sought.
He had given tasks to the NGOs and had paid to some of them as promised, after receiving their statements. However, he failed in making later payments and some of the cheques issued by him, were returned unpaid.
The compainant said that the company had been executing the projects handed over to them by Rajagopal, through 58 other NGOs. “Rajagopal had said that he was the state coordinator for the National Service Trust, New Delhi, with its office located in the health department in the city. He assigned works like collecting data about the HIV-affected people, persons suffering from tuberculosis, sex workers etc., and released money after the statements of expenditure were submitted. He later asked the NGOs to conduct a survey on rehabilitation of these patients, which was attended to in August last year. However, he failed to pay up even after statement of expenditure was submitted. When pressure was brought, he absconded,” the petitioner said.
Source: DailiWorld
Posted on 11:11 AM
Do not fall prey to emails that claim they are from the Income Tax Department and ask for your banking details.
IT officials have said that they do not send such emails. Recently, B K Goyal, director of Mieco Pumps and Generators received one such email that read: “Dear Income Tax Department of India customer, after the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of Rs 820.50. Please submit the tax refund form and allow us three to five business days in order to process it.
"To access the form for your tax refund, please click here." Note, for security reasons, we will record your IP address and date. Thank you, Income Tax Department of India Online Department.” After clicking on the link, the recipient is guided to a website, which asks the user for details like credit card number, ATM number and PIN number. Goyal was smart enough to smell something fishy. Unsuspecting internet users have often fallen prey to such phishing techniques.
A senior IT official told Express that this was a scam and recipients of the e-mail should not divulge personal details on the website.
IT returns can be filed online, and the e-mails being sent by the IT department are about TDS and are routed through the National Informatics Centre.
Beware says govt
In a press release, the goverment has asked people to beware of emails been sent from the following or similar mailing addresses: ihxbkw@ accounts.net or cvhfus@ accounts.net
Source: Express Buzz
Posted on 11:10 AM
The suburban police on Friday arrested a Nigerian national on charges of cheating a resident of Mangadu of Rs 13 lakh after informing
him though an SMS that he had won a prize of five lakh pounds.
In his complaint lodged at the suburban commissionerate on Friday, Sathaiya of Kamatchi Amman Nagar said he got an SMS from World Nokia Draws on August 17 about the windfall.
He replied to the given email id and a man calling himself Dr Hari Kart of World Nokia said he would get the reward through David Wilson. Sathaiya was then asked to deposit Rs 50,000 in an account at a State Bank of India branch in New Delhi.
He was then asked to send the money for customs clearance in nine instalments. In all, he coughed up Rs 13 lakh.
On September 14, a man calling himself David Wilson came to his house, gave him a box with a large bundle of black papers and said Rs 32 lakh was required for a chemical solution from New Delhi to convert the papers into American dollars.
Realising he had been cheated, Sathaiya approached the police. After a probe, a Central Crime Branch team led by assistant commissioner S Jayakumar arrested Olabhaji (30) of Nigeria at Rajakilpakkkam. A laptop, three cell phones, several American dollars, black paper notes and a 2.5-sovereign gold ring were seized from the man who admitted to the crime.
He also had fake identity cards of the British High Commission and a letter saying he should be allowed to move around freely as he was a career diplomat.
Later, at a press conference, suburban police commissioner S R Jangid said: "Most of these scams are from abroad and it is difficult to track the accused, but I urge our people not to fall prey to such people. There are no free lunches in life.''
Source: TOI
