In an incident of cyber-security breach, funds from the bank accounts of many customers of the State Bank of Mysore (SBM) across Karnataka were transferred without authorization on Sunday.
The Hindu reported that, cyber security experts in Bengaluru are calling it an “unprecedented” development in bank fraud and SBM officials were in a meeting throughout Sunday and remained tight-lipped. However, a senior SBM official said that the "matter has been settled."
The report adds:
As customers began being notified of withdrawals on Sunday when banks are closed, they barged into the branches on Monday as soon as business hours commenced. Bank officials had to pacify them and offered to return their money after receiving a handwritten complaint. Officials dealing with irate customers termed it a ‘technical error’.
Deccan Herald reported that the money of more than 30 customers of the bank's branch in Sringeri were transferred unauthorisedly to a bank account in Haryana on Sunday.
Quoting police sources, the report adds that the bank officials have said that there are possibilities of bank staff giving out customer information to hackers, who could've hacked the bank’s internet server. This could also have happened when the bank exchanges data with the companies which manage the servers.
It is also interesting to note that the money was not stolen in bulk, but in hundreds of Rs 49 transactions.
“I received the first message on the Rs 49 transaction around 3:30 pm and over 430 messages till 7 pm. I was shocked to realise I had lost over Rs. 29,500 from my account in numerous Rs 49-transactions,” a customer of SBM said.
The bank has reportedly asked the customers not to go to the police and assured them that all their money would be returned. However, a few police complaints were filed in Sringeri.