Bangalore:
Phishing fiends struck again and this time their victim is Bangalore's M K Shankarlinge Gowda, Secretary, State Transport department.
Gowda's e-mail was hacked into and random mails were sent to his contact list seeking financial assistance.
Gowda filed a complaint with Vishana Soudha police asking them to trace the hacker, who not only indulged in cyber crime but also caused him embarrassment.
The Vidhana Soudha police have taken up the case and are seeking the help of cyber crime sleuths to track down the hackers.
"Gowda was using his Hotmail ID for personal and official purposes alike," the investigating officer in the case said.
The cops added that as a precautionary measure they asked him to change his password so further damage could be prevented.
The incident came to light on April 13 when some of Gowda's friends received a mail stating that he was on an outstation assignment, and was stranded without funds. The mail sought financial assistance to bail him out of trouble.
Some of Gowda's friends even called him to check.
Cyber Crime police officials said if anyone in the victim's contact list responds to the e-mail, they ask him or her to affect an online transfer of funds to a specific account number.
"So far we have only received complaints of phishing attacks. We have not come across anyone who has been cheated of any money in this way. We are trying to locate the Internet Protocol address from where the mail was generated," said a senior police officer.