A relaxing Sunday afternoon turned frantic for Horamavu resident Sangeeta Rajan, a customer of SBM, when she began receiving text messages of withdrawals of Rs. 49 from her online account.
“I received the first message on the Rs. 49 transaction around 3.30 p.m. and over 430 messages till 7 p.m. I was shocked to realise I had lost over Rs. 29,500 from my account in numerous Rs. 49-transactions,” said the city resident, whose distress calls to the SBM helpline went in vain.
“There are many bank customers like me who lost money and questioned the branch manager on Monday. We were then asked to give a written complaint. The bank has promised a refund of the lost sum through Demand Draft in two days,” lamented another bank customer, Puspa Krishnamoorty.
Unprecedented hit
Individual accounts have been hacked before and money siphoned off after customers revealed confidential information.
However, this incident stands apart because the hackers managed to withdraw money without customers divulging any information.
