The email account of ex-director of Haffkine Institute has been hacked for the second time by the online cheating mafia. On Thursday, Dr SM Sapatnekar’s hotmail ID was hacked and misused by sending emails to people on his address book asking for monetary help.
The contents of the mails read: “i am stranded at a hotel in a foreign country and have lost all my money and credit cards which could be used to make payments and bear further expenses to return home. Please send me 3,150 dollars at the below mentioned address through money exchange and I would return the money once I am back home.”
The first email mentioned that the doctor was in a hotel in London. A student of Sapatnekar, who is in London, replied to the email stating that she was willing to give the demanded amount but only after meeting Sapatnekar.
The student believed the contents of the email because when she tried contacting Sapatnekar on his mobile phone and office she came to know that he had gone abroad.
When Saptnekar realised the fraud, he immediately informed everyone saying he was absolutely fine. Another email said that he was in a hotel in Nigeria. When people contacted him, he said that he was in Mumbai and the email was a plot to cheat.
“I started receiving calls from people who asked me where I was and what had happened. I was shocked. When I told them that I was in Mumbai and completely alright, they told me about the email that they had received from my email ID,’’ said Sapatnekar.
“I had to answer hundreds of calls and alert all the people who were in my address book not to send any money at the mentioned address. I also contacted the website so that they could restore my hacked email ID.’’
On July 9 last year, Sapatnekar’s yahoo ID was hacked. He restored it with help from the website’s server office.
