CBI files case in Union Bank of India hacking

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case in the hacking of Union Bank of India's system and the diversion of Rs 1,200 crore from its nostro account to the accounts of unknown persons located in various countries in July 2016.

The money was traced to banks in Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia from the nostro account of the bank. Earlier, Maharashtra Police was probing the matter, but it was unable to find the perpetrators. The agency has filed the case under various section of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.

The bank, in its complaint on July 21, 2016 to the Mumbai Police, had pegged the amount siphoned to be Rs 201 crore but the police, which had registered an FIR on August 25, 2016 mentioned the amount to be about Rs 1,200 crore as per the then exchange rates.

In the initial complaint, the bank said that their system was hacked to divert Rs 201 crore from its nostro account with Citibank in New York to the accounts of some unknown persons in Hong Kong in July 2016.

"We tried to find out as to how and who has given such instruction to Citibank New York without our knowledge, but failed. We found that somebody possibly accessed our computer system without authorisation, extracted data and cheated the bank by using the unique identification features," the bank had said in the complaint to the Maharashtra Police.

The CBI registered a case after the matter was transferred to the agency. "We have registered a case into the matter and started a probe," said a senior CBI officer.