The official email account of a prominent city school was hacked into on Tuesday and mails were sent to at least 10 parents on behalf of the principal seeking hefty monetary assistance.
One of the parents, a principal correspondent with this newspaper, doubted the veracity of the demand because the mails were in poor English, riddled with grammatical and syntax howlers.
An FIR has been registered at Argora thana and police with the help of cyber experts are trying to locate the IP address of the machine from which the emails were sent.
The journalist, whose two sons study in Classes III and VI at DAV Kapildev Public School in Kadru, received the first mail from the account davkadru402@yahoo.co.in and in the name of principal M.K. Sinha as early as 2.41am.
“Greetings, please which city you are? I need urgent assistance right now, kindly mail me back as I am unavailable over the phone, with regard, yours faithfully (M.K. Sinha) Principal,” the mail read.
Despite a gut feeling that something was not right about the mail, the parent said he replied at 11.02am. Exactly 17 minutes later, he received a second mail.
“Many thanks for your reply. I need your assistance, I can’t call or be reached via mobile right now as I am currently out of town and need to send money to my cousin there in India for an urgent surgery, but i can’t send out from here presently. Please I need you to help me with a loan of Rs 2 lakhs to my cousin. The surgery bill is Rs 5 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs has been contributed but remaining Rs 2 lakh to balance up the bill. If you cannot afford all let me know whatever you can afford. Please let me know if you can have this taken care of so I can send you my cousin’s account details. I will refund it immediately I get back home. I Look forward to hearing from you. With regards, Yours faithfully, (M.K.Sinha), Principal,” it read this time.
The language skills of the sender got the parent thinking, but in true Diwali spirit he offered to help. The reply to his mail sent at 11.34am came at 12.48pm with details of a Maharashtra bank for transfer.
“Thanks a lot for your willingness to help. Here are the account details below. Please bear in mind that I’ll pay back your money immediately i get back home. SBI current Ac Name: Charamjib Ramesh Gowali Ac No: 37765257862 IFSC: SBIN0005354 SWIFT Code: SBININBB Branch: Thane, Pan: BOIPG4448F Please get back to me with pay slip. With regards, Yours faithfully, (M.K.Sinha), Principal,” the third mail from the DAV school account read.
The journalist decided to call the principal of DAV Gandhinagar, a sister cradle, because he couldn’t reach DAV Kapil Dev principal over phone. The Gandhinagar school told him that the email account of the other branch had been hacked into.
DAV Kapildev principal later confirmed the same to this newspaper. “Our school’s official email account has been hacked. Eight to 10 parents have called me regarding the problem. I have sought police assistance to identify the hacker. Parents have been warned against the fake mails,” Sinha said.
Argora thana OC Rati Bhan Singh said cyber police had begun investigations. “Experts are trying to locate the machine from where the mails were sent. The bank account details and PAN are being verified. We hope to make a breakthrough soon,” he said.
Till the filing of this report, a fourth mail was received by the journalist at 1.56pm. “Awaiting your reply,” it said.
DAV Kapildev has 3,000 students on its rolls.
