CBI busts global hacking racket with inputs from FBI

NEW DELHI: An FBI input led the CBI to bust an international racket of hacking on Friday, with raids across four cities and the arrest of a 32-year-old techie, Amit Vikram Tiwari who had allegedly hacked into 900 e-mail accounts worldwide since 2011.

The CBI said the operation was a product of an “international investigation” coordinated by FBI, Combating Organized Crime (DCCO) of Romania, Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in China and the CBI. Tiwari, who is apparently running three websites from Pune, had advertised that anybody could get unauthorized access to an e-mail account in exchange for a fee ranging from $250 to $500, the CBI said. 900 such email accounts were hacked between February 2011 and February 2013, with 171 such accounts belonging to victims in India.

“Based on information developed over a period of time, CBI succeeded in tracking the main suspect and his associates for operating the websites,” the CBI said. CBI conducted searches in Maharashtra and Ghaziabad. “Similar operations are being conducted in Romania, China and US by their respective agencies,” the CBI said.

Tiwari had been earlier arrested for online credit card fraud over a decade ago. He is son of a colonel. His modus operandi explained by the CBI is that customers wanting unauthorized access used to submit the said e-mail addresses to the websites floated by Tiwari. “Upon receipt of an order, as well as, the e-mail addresses, the website operators used to gain access to such e-mail accounts and send proof of such access to the customers. On receipt of the payment from customers, these website operators shared the password with the customers,” CBI said.

Access to the e-mail accounts may have been obtained by private customers due to corporate rivalry, to commit financial frauds or even threaten national security, a CBI source said. “It is suspected that the number of email accounts hacked may be much larger once the data is collected and accused interrogated,” the CBI said, putting charges under IPC and Information Technology Act.