Udupi : Hackers have allegedly transferred Rs 5 lakh, deposited by customers in their accounts maintained at the State Bank of Mysore (SBM) branch on IG Road at Sringeri, to another account.

Similar incidents have taken place in other branches of the bank, including those in Goa.

Funds from the bank accounts of more than 30 customers of State Bank of Mysore in Sringeri were transferred unauthorisedly to a bank account in Haryana on Sunday.

The incident came to light after the customers received a message on their cell phones on fund transfer. The transfer has been effected through net banking.

Panicked customers rushed to the bank and the bank staff, despite it being a Sunday, provided service by blocking the customers’ bank accounts. Hundreds of customers who had lost their money, had assembled in front of the bank at 8 pm.

Circle Police Inspector Sudheer Hegde confirmed the incident. The fund transfer was done in the name of ‘Gurgaon Mobiquick’ between 11 am and 2.30 pm on Sunday. When the customers received the SMS on their mobile phones regarding the transfer of the amount, they checked the balance through ATM kiosks and found that the transfer of the amount was really done. Immediately, they brought the incident to the notice of the bank manager.

K Santhosh Babu said some customers, from whose accounts the amount has been transferred, have filed a complaint against the branch manager and the staff.

Though the accounts of  customers have been hacked in Goa and other places, the incident has come into light late and complaints have not been registered in other places, he added.

The bank will deposit the amount to the accounts of the customers who have been cheated. Bank officials have failed to understand how the amount was transferred from bank accounts. The internal task force of the bank has also taken up the investigation along with the police department and the case will be busted within three to four days, it is said.

According to police sources, the bank officials have said that there are possibilities of bank staff giving out customer information to hackers or hackers may have hacked the bank’s internet server. The mistake may also happen when the bank exchanges data with the companies which manage the servers. Though Sunday was a holiday, bank manager Venugopal Rao contacted the SBM head office in Mumbai and had the server disconnected preventing transfer of money from other customers’ accounts, they said.