Masterminds in Dubai, Hackers from Hong Kong Siphon 48 crore from Whizdm Finance In Bengaluru*
In a major breakthrough, Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police have arrested two individuals for allegedly hacking into Whizdm Finance Pvt Ltd bank accounts and siphoning off nearly Rs 48 crore using foreign IP addresses.
The case came to light after the company's senior manager filed a complaint on August 7, reporting unauthorised and suspicious fund transfers between August 6 and 7, across multiple accounts.
A preliminary probe by the company revealed that the transactions were not carried out through official systems or whitelisted IPs, but instead through foreign servers, indicating a large-scale data compromise.
Investigations by the Cyber Crime Police found that a total of 1,782 transactions were executed from Whizdm Finance's accounts to 656 different bank accounts, diverting approximately Rs 47 crore. One suspect had received 27.39 lakh in his State Bank of India account, while another facilitated the transfer of Rs 5.5 crore to Echelon Science Tech Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, which was later routed to Flipo Pay.
Further investigation revealed that two Dubai-based masterminds had allegedly hired hackers from Hong Kong to alter the bank's API systems and bypass security protocols. The illegal transactions were executed using IP addresses traced to Hong Kong and Lithuania, connected to five rented servers abroad.
Police have arrested two suspects Sanjay Patel and Ismail Rasheed Attar in India and are now tracing the foreign operatives and digital money trail. Efforts are also underway to recover the diverted funds.
