BENGALURU: A 23-year-old BTech graduate has been arrested for allegedly hacking into a reward-point website associated with a private bank, stealing 4.5 lakh gift vouchers between February and June this year and purchasing various commodities, including gold, worth nearly Rs 4.2 crore using them.
The accused – Bodalur Lakshmipati, a resident of Whitefield and from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh – has been remanded in judicial custody in Bengaluru Central Prison. City police commissioner B Dayananda said the accused hacked into the website of Reward-360, a data-driven customer engagement ecosystem firm located in HSR Layout, and stole the gift vouchers.
In June, the firm filed a police complaint stating its gift vouchers were being used by unidentified persons. Preliminary police investigation revealed between February and June, the accused stole around 4.5 lakh gift vouchers.
How Lakshmipati came in contact with Reward-360
Lakshmipati’s hacking of Reward-360’s servers was a significant breach of security that had far-reaching consequences. According to DCP (southeast) CK Baba, it all began when the accused acquired debit and credit cards from a private bank.
“When the bank denied him reward points for using the cards, he resorted to a different approach. In response, he created a software program that auto-generated codes that were present on the gift vouchers. The bank offered him four vouchers. However, Lakshmipati was not satisfied with this and developed a programme to continuously exploit the servers of Reward-360, which was handling gift vouchers of the bank, acquiring an unlimited number of vouchers. He then converted these vouchers into a substantial amount of digital currency, which he invested in precious metals like gold and silver,” Baba said.
The case was registered with cybercrime police, southeast division, who traced the accused to his Whitefield residence and arrested him. “The gold and silver were kept in a bank locker in Chittoor. Other materials, including seven two-wheelers, were seized from his Whitefield residence,” a cop said.
Lakshmipati had completed his BTech in computer science from a prestigious institution, police said. “About two years ago, he came to the city and joined a company as a software engineer. He had been to Dubai for a few months for work,” the cop said, adding, “In January this year, he quit the job.”
The accused – Bodalur Lakshmipati, a resident of Whitefield and from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh – has been remanded in judicial custody in Bengaluru Central Prison. City police commissioner B Dayananda said the accused hacked into the website of Reward-360, a data-driven customer engagement ecosystem firm located in HSR Layout, and stole the gift vouchers.
In June, the firm filed a police complaint stating its gift vouchers were being used by unidentified persons. Preliminary police investigation revealed between February and June, the accused stole around 4.5 lakh gift vouchers.
How Lakshmipati came in contact with Reward-360
Lakshmipati’s hacking of Reward-360’s servers was a significant breach of security that had far-reaching consequences. According to DCP (southeast) CK Baba, it all began when the accused acquired debit and credit cards from a private bank.
“When the bank denied him reward points for using the cards, he resorted to a different approach. In response, he created a software program that auto-generated codes that were present on the gift vouchers. The bank offered him four vouchers. However, Lakshmipati was not satisfied with this and developed a programme to continuously exploit the servers of Reward-360, which was handling gift vouchers of the bank, acquiring an unlimited number of vouchers. He then converted these vouchers into a substantial amount of digital currency, which he invested in precious metals like gold and silver,” Baba said.
The case was registered with cybercrime police, southeast division, who traced the accused to his Whitefield residence and arrested him. “The gold and silver were kept in a bank locker in Chittoor. Other materials, including seven two-wheelers, were seized from his Whitefield residence,” a cop said.
Lakshmipati had completed his BTech in computer science from a prestigious institution, police said. “About two years ago, he came to the city and joined a company as a software engineer. He had been to Dubai for a few months for work,” the cop said, adding, “In January this year, he quit the job.”