Dr Reddy's, Group Pharmaceuticals duped of Rs 2 crore in email spoofing fraud

The Bengaluru police have launched a probe into a cyber fraud case where hackers allegedly infiltrated the official email communication between city-based Group Pharmaceuticals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad, successfully diverting a payment of Rs 2.16 crore to a fraudulent account.

According to an FIR registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, the fraud was reported by Mahesh Babu K, a senior executive with Group Pharmaceuticals. The company stated it was expecting a payment of Rs 2.16 crore from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories for goods supplied.

“During the course of their business, they had supplied goods to Dr Reddy's Laboratories, and were due to receive a payment of Rs 2.16 crore,” the FIR stated.

However, on November 3, hackers allegedly gained unauthorised access to the email communication between the two companies and sent fraudulent emails to Dr Reddy's finance and accounts team, impersonating officials of Group Pharmaceuticals and providing false bank account details, it said.

“As a result, Dr Reddy's Laboratories transferred the payment of Rs 2.16 crore on November 4 to the fraudulent bank account,” it added.

The complainant requested the police to immediately freeze the fraudulent account and recover the misappropriated amount.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered on November 5 against unknown cyber fraudsters under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a senior police officer said.

Citing preliminary investigations, a senior police officer said the fraudulent account was traced to Vadodara in Gujarat, from where the stolen funds were quickly dispersed into multiple sub-accounts.

The primary account into which the fraudulent amount was transferred has been frozen, police said, adding that they are working with banks to recover the diverted funds. The matter is under further investigation.