Mumbai: A firm involved in the coffee roasting business lost ₹4.56 lakh to cyber fraudsters while trying to import a chocolate tempering machine from Italy, a country known for its distinct coffee culture. Quoting the firm's accountant, who filed the complaint on July 19, the Khar police said that Subko Coffee Pvt Ltd had ordered a proxima tempering machine from an Italian company, which was found after a web search. A deal for 9,925 euros or ₹9,13,164 was struck.
As per the agreement, the coffee roaster had transferred 50% of the amount to the foreign company, which confirmed its receipt. On June 26, Subko Coffee Pvt Ltd received an email from fbm@boscolo.it, requesting the transfer of the balance amount to a specific account. Notably, this mail id was different from the ones used in previous communication between both the parties. Still the coffee roaster transferred the remaining 4,962.5 euros or ₹4,56,582.
It received a rude shock later when the Italian company claimed that it had not received the balance amount. When the complainant firm mentioned the email id from which it got a mail, the foreign firm clarified that it wasn't its digital address and also bank details were someone else's.
A case has been filed under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code as well as provisions 67(c) (dishonestly make use of the electronic signature) and 66(d) (communication device or computer resource cheats by personation) of the Information Technology Act.
