South Mumbai businessman gypped of Rs27.60 lakh by cyber crooks

A Girgaum Road-based businessman recently fell prey to a phishing e-mail and lost Rs27.60 lakh. The victim used to purchase material from a Hong Kong-based company and monetary dealings took place over e-mail. The fraudsters made a similar-looking e-mail of the Hong Kong company and tricked the victim into transferring money to their bank account.

Complainant Kishore Shah, 40, a resident of Harharwala Building in Girgaum, imports metal from the company. As per a statement given by Shah to the VP Road police, he has been doing business with the company for the past four years.

“After the completion of the order, Shah used to deposit money to the company's bank account and communicate with the company officials through e-mail. On April 11, last year, he gave an order of metal worth Rs35 lakh and also transferred an advance of Rs7.5 lakh to the company’s account,” said an officer.

On June 9, this year, the victim received another e-mail wherein the company requested him to transfer the remaining payment to their new bank account, which was in New York.

“The e-mail address this time was a bit different than the company's original one. However, the victim could not spot the difference and went on to deposit Rs27.60 lakh in the New York-based account on June 12.

On June 17, when Shah inquired with the company about the receipt of payment, the company replied in the negative. The victim then went through the address from which he had received the e-mail and realised it was fake,” the officer said.

Shah then registered a complaint with the police. The police are in the process of getting more information about the phishing e-mail and are investigating further.