Export house loses $131k to e-con

Navi Mumbai: A Mahape-based export house, which trades in spices, has lodged a complaint with the Navi Mumbai cyber crime cell alleging that it was cheated of US$131,295 in an online fraud.
The export house alleged that cyber criminals managed to get details of the company’s correspondence with its customers and created a fake email ID resembling that of the firm. They used the ID to communicate with two of its clients located in El Salvador and Chile and made them transfer the amount to a bank account in RHB Berhad Bank, Malaysia.
The firm’s IT and admin manager said the Malaysian bank is not ready to block or freeze the bank account, which is in the name of one ‘Halmi Trade Tent’ till its receive court orders directing it to do so. The firm has even sought the help of the Union ministry for commerce and industries to resolve the legal dispute that has arisen with its two clients who claim to have transferred payment for spices to the bank account as per what they assumed was a genuine email conversation.
According to the firm’s manager, the fraudsters had sent across mails to the clients during the previous Christmas season. The clients thought it fit not to disturb the firm’s authorities during the vacation time and went ahead and transferred the sum to the Malaysian bank account mentioned in the email.
Police said the email IDs may have been hacked and all conversations related to payment misused. After going through the mail history, it was detected that the hacker had registered an almost matching domain name like that of the firm with only one alphabet missing, which the firm’s clients did not notice. Thereafter, the cyber cons created fake email IDs and sent the customers a mail “supossedly on behalf of the export house” with changed bank details for payment.
While one client, Global Import Spices S A de C V of El Salvador, transferred $69,020, the other, Empresas Demaria SA of Chile, transferred $62,275— both totalled $131,295.
Inspector Pratibha Shendge, Navi Mumbai cyber crime cell in-charge, said, “After completing the preliminary investigation, we communicated with the concerned Malaysian bank seeking freezing of the concerned bank account to prevent withdrawal of cash. We are yet to receive any official response from the bank.”