After several reports of a possible hacking of Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal’s email account, the company in a statement said that the account was spoofed but not hacked. According to several media reports, the e-tailer clarified on Saturday that yesterday’s incident was not a case of hacking. The statement also mentioned that Flipkart’s corporate email system regards security very highly. A spoofed email is not the result of a hack but is harmful, as it does not originate from the real source but from a different user, forging the name and address with unethical motives.
On Friday, a leading newspaper reported that Bansal’s email accoint was hacked and two emails were sent in his name to the company’s CFO Sanjay Baweja at 11.33 am, requesting him to transfer a bulky amount of $80,000. The company already reported the email-spoofing incident to the police, which was immediately detected after the mails were sent. Company’s CFO Baweja as per the report was taken aback by the nature of the emails and cross checked with Bansal. It was then discovered that Bansal’s email account had been spoofed. Flipkart has filed a case of email spoofing which involves the use of a forged email header to make it look like a legitimate email.
It is a clear case of email fraud. We request internet users not to react immediately to emails seeking money transfers and other monetary benefits, said Hemant Nimbalkar, IGP, CID-cyber cell. A spoofed email does not originate from the real source but from a different source falsifying the name and address with an ulterior motive.
