A dry fruit supplier’s outlet in Bandra has reported a case of extortion after cyber criminals allegedly hacked their server and demanded bitcoins. The purchase manager of the company, Zamir Alam Mohamed Shaikh, reported the case at the Bandra police station on February 25 after staff members realised their information has been compromised. Advertising Police have charged unidentified persons with extortion, damage to computer system, computer-related offences and failure to protect data, and transferred the case to Saki Naka police station Friday. According to the police, the company manufactures dry fruits in Pune, which are then delivered to outlets across India and to other countries. In his statement to police, Shaikh said, “I have been working as a purchase manager since 2014 and we had recently purchased a software from a Haryana-based company. The main server is installed at our Pune office to which all the computers across the country are connected through LAN.” Advertising At 9.30am on February 25, when Shaikh left his residence for work, he received a call from a company employee in Pune. The caller said he was unable to log in to the server, the complaint said. The complaint stated Shaikh reached his office and found that he, too, could not log on to the server. But a message popped up on the screen saying the server had been hacked and bitcoins were to be paid to return control to the company, the complaint stated. According to police, Shaikh disconnected the computers connected to the LAN and reported the case to them. “Their Mumbai office operates from Andheri due to which the case was transferred to Saki Naka police station,” said a police officer.

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