Indian infrastructure firm loses ₹5.5 crore in phishing attack involving fake email and redirected payments to US bank account

Summary

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) lost approximately Rs 5.5 crore in a phishing attack. The company had issued a purchase order and work order to a Netherlands-based vendor, Duiker Combustion Engineers, and made payments according to contractual milestones. Fraudsters impersonated the vendor's representative and manipulated payment instructions using a fake email ID. As a result, the funds were redirected from the legitimate ABN Amro Bank account in the Netherlands to a fake JP Morgan Chase account in the US. Telangana Police's Cyber Security Bureau registered a case after MEIL discovered the fraudulent transactions.