Prof’s hacked email restored

Persistent efforts of Professor Lavy D’Costa to retrieve his email account, which was hacked in November 2007, have finally paid off.

D’Costa had lodged a complaint with the cyber crime cell of Mumbai police as well as Google, which runs gmail. Wiser after this experience, he plans to run an awareness campaign about cyber crimes.

On November 26, 2007, D’Costa’s friends received an email from his ID saying that he was in Nigeria for a programme called ‘Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS’ and had lost his visa, passport and money. The email also stated that he owed a hotel $1,550 and asked for financial help of $3,500.

D’Costa said, “I was scared when I came to know about the hacking. My account carries confidential information about students, the college, the NGOs I’m associated with.”

“When a close friend contacted me in college and informed me of the email. I tried to log in but failed as my password didn’t match,” he added.

Since the hacker had sent the emails to everyone listed in the address book, D’Costa also received the email on his indiatimes ID.

He asked his brother Francis to answer the email and ask for the address where the money should be sent. D’Costa said, “The hacker replied that I was staying with one Adamu Mustapha and asked Francis to send money to Mustapha at Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria through Western Union Money Transfer or money order.”

Meanwhile, D’Costa received a reply from Google for verification of the complaint. They blocked his gmail account after he convinced them the complaint was genuine.

Last week, he got an email from Google on his Indiatimes ID that his gmail account was reinstated with the same password.

DCP Sanjay Mohite of cyber crime cell said, “Many such cases have been reported of late. In case of problems, Internet users should refer to www.cybercellmumbai.org.”

t_kiran@dnaindia.net