Hyderabad: Scammers Spoofs Firm's Email ID, Drains Out over Rs 17 Lakh
Believing these communications to be genuine, the client transferred payments through eight transactions over 40 days, totalling Rs 17,20,745, without telephonic verification.
Hyderabad: A case was registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Cyberabad, after a city-based industrial firm reported that its long-used company email ID had been spoofed and misused, leading to fraudulent payments amounting to Rs 17,20,745.
According to complaint, the firm M/s SSN Enterprises, based in the SV Co-operative Industrial Estate in Balanagar, found that its official email ID ssne@rediffmail.com, which has been in use for more than 20 years for communication with clients, was accessed and misused by unknown cybercriminals.
The offenders allegedly sent emails to one of the firm’s major clients, instructing them to change the company’s registered bank account. Instead of the original State Bank of India (SBI) account, the fraudsters provided cancelled cheques belonging to Canara Bank and IDBI Bank.
Believing these communications to be genuine, the client transferred payments through eight transactions over 40 days, totalling Rs 17,20,745, without telephonic verification.
The complainant later discovered that emails from both ends had been manipulated – client emails were diverted, deleted, or shifted to other folders to hide the fraud. Investigators also found that the spoofed mails were sent from an altered domain: “@tejavehicle.com”, instead of the client’s actual domain “@tejavehicles.com”.
The firm has since filed an online complaint and kept the compromised email ID active to assist cybercrime investigators in tracing the offenders. All clients have been alerted not to respond to emails from the compromised account.
The Cyber Crime Police Station, Cyberabad, have registered a case under relevant sections and further investigation into the matter is underway.
