My cybercrime recap and update: Touching one year

(Feb 12, 2011 to Jan 20, 2012)

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History As some of you know, on February 12, 2011 almost one year back, someone hacked into my Punjab National Bank (PNB) account in Vidhan Sabha Marg Branch, Lucknow via Internet Banking and took out Rs 30,563/-. This amount was taken out in 29 transactions in two hours early morning of Feb 12, 2011. I reported this to the bank on Feb 23, 2011 and since then it has not been a very memorable ride for me. Mostly I have been pushing on slowly against set mindsets of the established system, specially the police administration. My ride has been uphill so far, but probably things seem to be reaching a plain now. From February-July 2011 Police I kept in touch with bank officials and police and contacted all levels of the police administration here in Lucknow. Right from meeting the Inspector in Hussainganj Police Station (under whose jurisdiction is PNB Branch in which my account stands) to the IPS-level Circle Officer, Aliganj handling cybercrime and even meeting the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in his office I contacted all of them with my case details and complaint in the hope that some official investigation could be done. However, most of my efforts were in vain. I kept running around and nobody lodged a police FIR in my case. Press I contacted many Lucknow newspapers in order to build awareness among the public regarding such cybercrime cases. Some Lucknow newspaper reporters and editors responded to the gravity of the situation and carried news of my cybercrime case in fair detail in February-March 2011. Dainik Jagran (Hindi), Amar Ujala (Hindi), Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi), Hindustan (Hindi) and Hindustan Times (English) all these newspapers reported my case and spread awareness of this cybercrime. I am grateful to them for supporting me. Even one cybercrime website carried details of my case. Bank In the beginning in February 2011, under pressure of my complaint of cybercrime and unauthorized transaction via Netbanking in my bank account, Punjab National Bank gave me documents and a list of mobile numbers. They said that all my money was transferred for Vodafone mobile recharge on these numbers. The manager of the PNB branch in which my account was there told me confidently that I can forget my money and it cannot be recovered. He explained that it has to be my fault in some way as I did not keep my Netbanking password carefully or I must have clicked some phishing email link and entered my Netbanking details there, as a result someone got into my account and took out all the
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money. I defended myself saying that I have been using Netbanking for the past 5 years and I do take care of my password amid normal precautions. However, he seemed to be quite convinced that it was my fault. Well, that was it. Since then nobody from the bank felt like contacting me and asking their account holder me - what have I been doing regarding my case and whether there has been any police action or any action from any investigating authority. Bank twists Interestingly, from March 2011 onwards, PNB started informing on its website that now only 5 Netbanking transactions per day could be done on its website by any account holder. Remember, in my cybercrime case on February 12, 2011, 29 Netbanking transactions were done in my account in just two hours! Another interesting element was added by PNB on its website by April/May 2011. A bold red text announced on the website: "Mobile Recharge/Topup for Vodafone not allowed through PNB's Internet Banking". Remember, all money that went out from my account on February 12, 2011 went for Vodafone mobile numbers recharge as informed by PNB to me. Now you figure why PNB posted this message in the first place! From August October 2011 Court After all the running around, I finally decided that it was time to get the court involved. I contacted an advocate with my case details. He drafted a brief and submitted it to the court in August 2011. Court judge went through the brief and was sympathetic to my case. He issued an order to the police in September 2011 that a fraud seems to have been committed against me and the police should investigate the case and file a report with the court. I got copies of this order. There was no news from the police in October 2011. From November December 2011 There was still no news from the police to me in November whether they had taken the court order seriously. However, in mid-December 2011, a police constable contacted my father in my residence with a mobile number and a letter that his boss wanted to meet me. My father conveyed the message to me in office. The letter written by a senior sub-inspector stated that he was investigating my cybercrime case and wanted to meet me to take my statement in the case. He said in the letter that he had contacted me many times on my mobile number but I had not picked it up and case investigation was being delayed on my part. On my part, due to work pressure related reasons, I could not meet him in December 2011.

From January 1 - 20, 2012 Police Finally on January 11, 2012, I met the senior sub-inspector (SSI) / Investigating officer (I/O) and apologized that I could not meet him earlier due to some work pressure. He appeared relieved to see me. But he did complain and told me the same things that he had expressed earlier in his letter addressed to me. He told me to come on January 13 to Hussainganj police station so that he could take my statement. I went there on the day. He met me, offered me tea and asked me about my case and took notes in his diary. He also had surveillance software on his mobile on which he showed me the location of my list of Vodafone numbers. I dictated the first 4-digits of the listed Vodafone numbers to him and finally we both found in 10 minutes that the numbers belonged to Delhi, Mumbai and Gujarat (one number) regions. Then he told me about the progress he had made while investigating the case. He said he had contacted his seniors and managed to get names and addresses of around 12 persons who were owners of the Vodafone numbers where my money had been transferred via Netbanking. He showed the email printouts to me containing these details, which I saw were given by Vodafone on December 12, 2011. The I/O seemed unhappy and expressed his disappointment that it would be difficult to do investigation as the addresses were not proper. Finally, after asking him for a copy of the FIR that was registered in my cybercrime case after the court order, he gave me a copy. Right to Information (RTI) While discussing my case with friends, it struck that an RTI application under Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 should be sent to Punjab National Bank asking for some crucial information that would help in police investigation. I drafted an application on January 19 and fine-tuned it today, January 20, 2012. Under the RTI Act, we are supposed to get information within 30-40 days from Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) stationed in various Indian government departments. After searching on the PNB website, I came across the CPIO in PNB Head office in New Delhi. I addressed my RTI application to him, paid the required RTI fee of Rs 10/- in Indian Postal Order and posted this via Speed Post today (January 20, 2012) from Lucknow General Post Office (GPO). Tomorrow I will inform the I/O in my case that I have sent my RTI application to PNB HQs and we have to wait for a month for their response. {* I tweeted my 2-page RTI application today on twitter. To read Page 1 http://twitdoc.com/QMO ; to read Page 2 http://twitdoc.com/QMP }

This was my cybercrime update for you. I hope you liked it and got a good idea of my journey so far. I thank you for your encouragement and support. I do believe I will get justice soon. Amen