Indore News: Cyber Cell Recovers ₹3.72 Crore Lost By City Company In InternationalCyber Fraud

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The State Cyber Cell managed to recover Rs 3.72 crore lost by a city based private company in an international cyber fraud, an officer said on Wednesday. The action was taken with the help of India’s National Cyber Crime Portal (I4C) and the United States cybercrime portal IC3.

SP (cyber cell) Sabyasachi Saraf said that an Indore-based company, Shivganga Drillers Private Limited, was required to make a business payment of 415,017.58 US dollars (around Rs 3.72 crore) to its vendor, Inovex International Inc., located in Houston, USA.

Cyber criminals targeted this transaction by using Business Email Compromise (BEC) and spoofed emails. Through this method, the fraudsters managed to divert the international payment into a suspicious account held with JP Morgan Bank in the United States.

Saraf further said that a spoofed email is a fraudulent email in which the sender’s address or domain is altered to make it appear as if it has come from a trusted source, such as a company or bank. In a similar way, Business Email Compromise is a fraud technique in which criminals target business organisations to trick them into making payments to fake or controlled accounts.

 After the fraudulent transfer, cyber criminals again sent a spoofed email to the city company claiming that the payment had been rejected. They provided another bank account and requested a re-payment. This raised suspicion, and the company contacted its vendor directly over the phone. It was then confirmed that cyber criminals transferred the amount to another bank account.

 The company immediately approached the State Cyber Cell and registered a complaint on the NCRP. As the suspicious bank account was based in the US, a complaint was also filed on the IC3 portal under the FBI to ensure quick action. Using the complaint references from both Indian and US cyber portals, an official communication was sent to JP Morgan Bank.

Due to this prompt and coordinated action, the bank held the fraudulent amount in the suspicious account. Through the international recall process and with the involvement of the company’s bank in India, the entire amount in US dollars was successfully returned to the city based company, preventing financial loss.

 The State Cyber Cell appealed to the people and business organisations to always verify any change in bank details received through email using an independent method before making payments. In case of any doubt, people are advised to immediately contact the nearest cyber cell or the cybercrime helpline.