Siphon off Rs. 1.97 crore since 2021

Mysuru: Cyber criminals, who hacked into the bank accounts of an engineer using Remote Access Trojan (RAT) malicious software, have siphoned off a total of Rs. 1.97 crore from the engineer’s eight bank accounts and three credit card accounts. The victim is 52-year-old Mahesh (name changed), a resident of Paramahamsa Road in Yadavagiri.

From January 2021 till April 2026, the cyber criminals, using Remote Access Trojan (a type of malicious software that disguises itself as a legitimate programme to secretly give hackers full administrative control over a victim’s computer and mobile phones) took control of Mahesh’s mobile phones, hacked into the bank accounts, credit cards,  SMSes and One Time Passwords (OTPs) and siphoned off the money.

When Mahesh came to know about it, the cyber criminals transferred back some money in a bid to hush up the matter. As Mahesh was in constant touch with the banks, payment gateways and other organisations from 2021 till 2025, he managed to get back some money. From December 2025 till April 2026, Mahesh has lodged several complaints through National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

Mahesh, who collected documents from the banks, has lodged a complaint at city’s CEN Police Station.