BENGALURU: IT major Wipro on Wednesday received a mail demanding transfer of `500 crore worth currency in bitcoins to a bank account within 72 hours, failing which the company has to face dire consequences. This is the second such threat mail received by the Bengaluru-headquartered company in a month. It received a similar mail on May 5, where the anonymous sender threatened a bio attack on employees.
When Express contacted Wipro, the company sent out a statement: “Wipro confirms that it has received a second threatening email. Wipro has reinforced security measures at all its office locations. There is no impact on the company’s operations.”
Investigators suspect that both mails were sent from the same ID and IP address located in Switzerland. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is seeking help of the Union home ministry to identify the cyber criminal(s). They also suspect the IP address may have been manipulated to mislead investigators. The mail sent from one ramesh2@protonmail.com stated, “If you ignore my threats you will face severe trouble. This is the last chance I am giving you to pay the ransom or get ready to face the disaster.”
An earlier mail, sent from the same ID, had threatened to spread Ricin, a natural toxic protein, in the campus.
Wipro had filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police after the first mail. Suspecting insider hand, police had transferred the case to Bellandur police station under whose jurisdiction the Wipro office comes. But, police were not able get any leads and sought assistance of CID cyber crime wing.
CID traced the IP address to Switzerland. Police sought help from Interpol wing of the CBI. After the second threat mail from the same ID and IP address, police have written to Union home ministry to seek information from Switzerland. They also suspect cyber criminals may be manipulating the IP address. Sources said, “Some frustrated insider or former employee of the company may be behind it. The IP address can be manipulated very easily and we suspect somebody in India is behind this crime.’’