How a bank lost crores to cybercriminals

This was how hackers stole over Rs.16 crore from a Noida bank…

Transcript

00:00A bank in Noida lost over 16 crore rupees in just 5 days, and the heist didn't involve

00:06masks and guns.

00:07It was carried out entirely online.

00:12On 17th June 2024, when Sumit Kumar Srivastav, the IT manager of the Nainital Bank's Noida

00:19branch, was checking the balance sheet for the month during a routine audit, something

00:24unusual caught his eye.

00:26He found that over 3 crore rupees was missing from the accounts.

00:30Initially, the bank suspected that it might be a technical error, but it didn't take

00:35long for them to realize that something was fishy, as they could not match the balance

00:40sheet for several days.

00:42And that's when the bank's IT manager decided to go to the Cybercrime Police Station and

00:47file a complaint.

00:49He suspected that the fraudsters hacked the servers of the bank to get hold of the login

00:54ID and password of the bank manager.

00:57Using the stolen login credentials, the hackers got access to the bank's real-time gross

01:02settlement system, which facilitated instant money transfers between banks in India.

01:07Srivastav said this happened between 17th and 20th June, and over 16 crore rupees was

01:13transferred to 89 accounts in different banks.

01:17The bank asked the other banks to immediately freeze all the suspicious accounts, and the

01:21account holders were instructed to complete their KYC process to verify their identities.

01:27As soon as the other banks froze these accounts in which the amount was credited, over 69

01:33lakh rupees was returned to the Noida Bank.

01:36It wasn't clear if the cyberattack originated from India or abroad, but based on the complaints

01:41submitted by the bank management, Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Ranjan Rai of

01:46the Noida Cybercrime Wing said that a case of cheating and identity theft had been registered

01:52under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66C of the Information Technology

01:58Act 2008.

01:59The bank was also strengthening its cybersecurity measures to prevent such incidents in the

02:23future.

02:24In 2023, more than 4,000 cybercrimes were reported in India, resulting in a total loss

02:30of more than 60 crore rupees.

02:32And in the first four months of 2024, over 7,40,000 cybercrime complaints were registered

02:40on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, and people lost more than 1750 crore to cybercriminals.

02:48So if you fall victim to cybercrime, you can lodge an online complaint on the National

02:54Cybercrime Reporting Portal or dial the National Cybercrime Helpline number 1930.

03:00Another portal to file a cyberfraud complaint is cybercrime.gov.in.