N.C. State Professor Victim Of Online Theft
With the proper security measures, most online financial transactions are considered safe. But hackers found their way into a Wake County man's online brokerage account and allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars.
K. L. Murty, a professor at North Carolina Sate University, poured much of his life savings into an E-Trade account, but while he and his wife were overseas this past summer, their stock fund drained from about $216,000 to about $56,000.
"Unfortunately, I'm not a computer specialist and that's a problem," Murty said.
When he learned of the $175,000 loss, Murty said he nearly had a heart attack.
"It's mind boggling," Murty said. "I can't believe that could happen to anybody."
Murty said that since he found out about the loss, he had not been able to sleep well and had not been able to concentrate on his day-to-day activities.
"We don't know where to go," Murty said. "We feel helpless."
According to E-Trade, Murty's computer had no firewall, anti-virus software or spyware protection, which opened the door to sophisticated hackers who eventually intercepted sensitive e-mails and passwords.
