Delhi:
It would have been a comforting experience for the principal of Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) when he received supportive calls from numerous friends and relatives regarding his 'problem'. Only if he had any idea what that problem was.
'A nightmare', was how the principal of the city's one of the most prestigious medical institutes for more than six years, Dr Mahesh Verma, described the event.
Reportedly, Dr Verma's email account was hacked on July 31 and the hacker, posing as him, sent an email to all his contacts, informing them about the "condition of his ill cousin". The mail further requested to send some money for his treatment.
"I got a call from my friend on Monday. He asked me where I was and how could he help me. Later, many relatives called me. Then I realised that my account has been hacked," said Dr Verma. He then asked his secretary to send a mail to all his contacts from another account, informing them that his email account has been hacked.
"Somebody has hacked my email ID, directorprincipalmaids@hotmail.com, long time back and now he is emailing all my contacts that I am in London and urgently need money for my sister's treatment. You are kindly requested to ignore the email. I am now using dpmaids@gmail.com," stated his mail.
Deja vuDr Verma has been a victim of email account hacking earlier as well. "The data stored in my account was lost. There should be some mechanism to retrieve such lost information. I was using the account for professional purposes too," he said.
Hacker's email"I am presently in London (United Kingdom) to be with my ill cousin, who is a student here. She's suffering from a critical uterine fibroid and must undergo a hysterectomy. I hope you understand my plight and pardon me. I want to transfer her back home to have the surgery there because hysterectomy is very expensive here. I am wondering if you can be of any assistance to me. I need about $2,750 to make the necessary arrangements. I'll reimburse you on my return."