Ahmedabad Businessman Loses ₹2.07 Lakh After Fraudster Hacks Surat Company's Email
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
A 60-year-old businessman from Khokhra has allegedly lost ₹2.07 lakh in a cyber fraud after a fraudster gained access to the official email account of a Surat-based company and sent him a fake bank account number for an outstanding payment.
The businessman, who runs a chemical equipment manufacturing firm in Vatva, transferred the money believing he was paying the company from which he had ordered heaters for spray dryers. Khokhra police have registered a case and launched an investigation.
Fraudster Sends New Bank Account Details
The complainant, Benuprabhakar Damodarprasadsingh Vishweshwarsingh, a resident of Gokul Park Society in Khokhra, runs Aptaham Engineering Systems LLP in Vatva with his son, Anand Akhil.
The firm had placed an order worth ₹2.95 lakh with Surat-based Kantilal Chunilal & Sons Appliances Private Limited for heaters used in spray dryers. An advance payment of ₹87,500 had already been transferred to the company's Canara Bank account.
According to the complaint, Benuprabhakar received an email on September 4 from what appeared to be the Surat company's official email ID. The email instructed him to transfer the outstanding amount to a Bank of Baroda current account.
Believing the instructions to be genuine, he transferred ₹2.07 lakh online on September 5 and sent a screenshot of the transaction.
Company Later Says Email Was Hacked
The businessman realised he had been duped on September 7, when representatives of the Surat-based company informed him that they had not received the payment.
The company allegedly told him that its official email account had been hacked and that the bank account details sent to him were not genuine.
Following this, Benuprabhakar approached Khokhra police and lodged a complaint.
Police have registered a case and begun investigating the suspected email compromise, the bank account into which the money was transferred and the subsequent movement of the funds.
