AP Mahesh Bank hacking case: 4 Nigerians among 23 held so far

Four Nigerians out of 23 accused were arrested in connection with the fraud of Rs 12.48 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Mahesh Co-Operative Urban Bank.

Hyderabad (Telangana): More than 23 accused including four Nigerians, were arrested in connection with the fraud of Rs 12.48 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Mahesh Co-Operative Urban Bank. The police said on Wednesday that hackers entered the bank's system through phishing emails. Once these emails are opened and clicked upon, the Remote Access Trojan (RAT) gets embedded in the computer of the bank.

Through the RAT software, the hackers got access to the computers of the bank. Since all the systems in the bank are interconnected, the hackers were remotely able to access the core banking server of the bank and during January this year they altered the balance in the four accounts, police said.

Earlier a case was registered on January 24 regarding the fraud done by some unidentified hackers by altering the balance in four accounts and transferring it into 115 different accounts across India. "Cyber forensics stated that the hackers entered the system of the AP Mahesh Co-Operative Urban Bank by sending over 200 phishing emails containing a remote access trojan (RAT) sent to the employees of the bank in November 2021," Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand said.

The amount was transferred into 115 different bank accounts of different banks through internet banking from the four accounts by RTGS/NEFT into 398 different bank accounts. Most of the beneficiary accounts were in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and seven North-Eastern States, and the money was later withdrawn from 938 ATMs all over India, the police said.