Govt employee arrested for embezzling Rs71L by hacking website

Ludhiana: The Ludhiana police on Sunday arrested an employee of the Statistics Department, Government of Punjab, for embezzlement of Rs71 lakh, by hacking the website of Punjab Excise and Taxation department. According to police, the accused embezzled this amount from December 2019 to May 7, 2020.
The arrested accused is identified as Nanak Dev (31) of Mansa district. Division 5 police have lodged an FIR against him under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC and sections of the IT Act on the complaint of Veer Prakash and Ravneet Kaur of the Excise and Taxation department.
Inspector Goldy Birdi, investigating officer from cyber cell, said the accused was initially assigned to some other clerical work. However, he was given extra work of updating reimbursement bills of his co-workers online, as the person concerned got transferred two years ago.
He had also done some diploma in computers, and gradually, became an expert in using computers and the internet. He managed to hack the website of the Excise and Taxation department. To embezzle money, he targeted failed transactions.
The inspector added, “There is a loophole in the software related to failed transactions, and the accused took advantage of it. When the department came to know about it, they lodged a complaint with the police, who have arrested the accused on Sunday, and registered a case against him.