A Vashi-based fintech company has reported a ₹1.98 crore loss after hackers executed 57 unauthorised transfers in just over an hour, highlighting ongoing vulnerabilities in digital payment systems amid rising cybercrime in Navi Mumbai.
A Vashi-based fintech company has reported a cyber fraud loss of ₹1.98 crore after what investigators say were 57 unauthorised transfers executed in little more than an hour and a half, underscoring the continuing risks faced by payment firms that handle high volumes of small transactions. According to the company’s complaint, the transfers were carried out through its financial system on Thursday morning and the money was routed into multiple bank accounts across India.
The Navi Mumbai Cyber Police have opened a case against unknown persons under provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and are now trying to trace the beneficiary accounts and the method used to breach the system. An officer told local media that the inquiry is at an early stage and that investigators are reviewing the digital trail to identify the people behind the breach and understand how the company’s safeguards were bypassed. Free Press Journal reported that the firm, VK Venture Pvt Ltd, noticed the problem when retailers’ daily settlements were not processed at about 11.30am on October 2.
The company, which says it serves about five lakh registered retailers through its Biznext portal and the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System, appears to have been hit without the use of valid user credentials or authorised one-time passwords, suggesting the transfers were made after the system itself was compromised. After discovering the problem, it shut down the affected server and transaction systems, alerted the cybercrime helpline and filed a report through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal before approaching police.
The episode comes against a backdrop of repeated cyber and online trading scams in and around Navi Mumbai. The Times of India recently reported that police dismantled a fake stock-trading call centre that allegedly cheated victims of ₹1 crore, while Moneycontrol described another Navi Mumbai case in which a 58-year-old man lost more than ₹1.1 crore after being drawn into a share-market fraud. Separately, Livemint reported that Navi Technologies, the fintech venture led by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, was hit by a ₹14.26 crore cyber fraud, showing how financial platforms of different sizes remain vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated attacks.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
