It’s every technophobe’s nightmare, but this time its true. Some $50,000 was stolen from Fan Bao’s online bank account by Croatian computer hackers and the bank told him that the loss is not their problem.

Could it happen to you? Here’s the back story to help fill in who is at risk.

Seven years ago, Fan Bao opened a checking account at Bank of America to facilitate his small import-export business called ZICO USA. When he needed to wire money, he or his wife, Cathy Huang, would walk a few blocks to Bank of America’s Highland Park, Calif., branch and execute the transfer in person.

But two summers ago, a BofA branch official urged Bao to do his banking online, assuring him that it was every bit as safe as banking in person. Only wires sent from Zico’s computer, accompanied by a downloaded security certificate, would be honored, he was told. Bao followed the bank’s security instructions to the letter, and accepted the bank’s assurances that his money was safe.

But last summer, two fraudulent drafts were sent through Bao’s account–one for $50,000 and another for $99,100. Both drafts were going to a bank in Croatia that Bao had never done business with. In fact, Bao had never before sent a wire transfer to anyone outside of Hong Kong or China.

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An HSBC worker has been jailed for stealing more than £38,000 from dormant accounts – including a man who died in the 7/7 London bomb attacks.

Callous Paul Walsh, 35, repeatedly extended the credit limit of Anthony Fatayi-Williams – who was killed in the 2005 terror attacks.

A year after his death, Walsh used a ‘dummy card’ to access the account, which he raided on 90 separate occasions after changing the correspondence address.

His scam went unnoticed by fellow employees for over a year because a delay in the death certificate meant the account could not be closed.

Walsh was jailed for two years at Cambridge Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting six counts of false accounting, one count of fraud and one count of theft.

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A machine equipment company in Texas is tussling with its bank after organized crooks swiped more than $800,000 in a 48-hour cyber heist late last year. While many companies similarly victimized over the past year have sued their banks for having inadequate security protection, this case is unusual because the bank is preemptively suing the victim.

Both the victim corporation – Plano based Hillary Machinery Inc. – and the bank, Lubbock based PlainsCapital, agree on this much: In early November, cyber thieves initiated a series of unauthorized wire transfers totaling $801,495 out of Hillary’s account, and PlainsCapital managed to retrieve roughly $600,000 of that money.

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