Date:03/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/03/stories/2008120359780300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Bad treatment for doctor; his e-mail ID appropriated

Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI: A senior doctor at the Annal Gandhi Memorial Government Headquarters Hospital here has petitioned the city police authorities complaining that his personal e-mail ID had been subjected to ‘phising’ and was being “misused” by hackers.

Only upon receiving a call from his Bangalore-based friend did the doctor, who is also a Professor at the K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital, Tiruchi, realise to his shock that his repute was at stake due to the misuse of his e-mail ID.

Having appropriated the doctor’s e-mail ID through a devious method a few days back, the hackers had utilised it to send a mail that presented the doctor as pleading for financial help to the mail IDs of his acquaintances stored in the address book. The recipients of the mail included the doctor’s Bangalore-based friend and a journalist of a national daily in the city.

The mail deceitfully presented the doctor as being in dire straits in London; starving, in fact, due to misplacement of his wallet containing money, ATM card and credit card, to make a case for seeking 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. To infuse a sense of urgency, the message also created an impression that the doctor had to rush back to India as early as possible to attend a funeral of a friend.

The last time the doctor checked his e-mail was on November 29 when he had unwittingly replied to a fake mail that appeared exactly as having been sent from the free web-mail service in which he was an account holder. The mail asked the doctor to divulge his user name, password, date of birth, country and security image failing which the account would get locked. Thereafter, the doctor had been trying in vain to open his personal e-mail until the alert sounded by his friend transformed his curiosity into shock.

Upon his friend’s advice, the doctor immediately took the issue to the notice of the technical support service of the web-mail service. He simultaneously preferred a complaint with the Commissioner of Police A. Alexander Mohan on Monday detailing the issue.

When contacted, police authorities here said the complaint had been forwarded to the only Cyber Cell at Chennai for follow up action.