Invasion of The Stock Hackers

Arriving home from a five-week trip to Belgium and India on Aug. 14, a jet-lagged Korukonda L. Murty picked up his mail – and got the shock of his life. Two monthly statements from online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp. showed that securities worth $174,000 – the bulk of his and his wife's savings – had vanished. During July 13-26, stocks and mutual funds had been sold, and the proceeds wired out of his account in six transactions of nearly $30,000 apiece. Murty, a 64-year-old nuclear engineering professor at North Carolina State University, could only think it was a mistake. He hadn't sold any stock in months. [via chuck_angels]