A 63-year-old businessman has lost Rs 10.39 lakh in man-in-the-middle-attack fraud. The victim's company which is into the business of manufacturing plastic containers was in talks with a Taiwan based company to supply them material.
The cyber fraudster created a similar looking email ID that of the Taiwanese company and induced the victim to deposit money in the bank account provided in the fraudulent email.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Worli and has his company at Lower Parel. In March this year, the victim had met a member of the sales and marketing department of a Taiwan based container mold manufacturing company and the two had a conversation for a business transaction regarding purchase of material from the Taiwanese company.
On June 21, the Taiwan based company emailed the quotation of the total cost of the material required for the victim's company. Though the mail mentioned about sending thirty percent advance to them, the mail did not share the company's bank details after which the victim's company mailed to the Taiwan based company to send their bank account details.
However, on June 26, the victim's company received an email from a scammer who had created a bogus similar looking email of the Taiwanese company and the said mail contained bank account details asking the victim to deposit the money.
Accordingly, the victim's company made payment of 12450 USD (Rs 10.39 lakh) on June 27 and three days later, the victim informed the Taiwanese company about having made the payment, who in turn responded that they had not received any payment and that the account in which the payment was made did not belong to their company. The victim then realised that he had been cheated after which he got a complaint registered with the police.
The cyber crime police of Mumbai has registered a case of cheating and forgery under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
