Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Duped Of Rs 2.16 Crore In Email Impersonation Fraud
The FIR report suggests Group Pharmaceuticals was awaiting a payment of Rs 2.16 crore from Dr Reddy's Labs for supply of goods.
In a surprising development, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. has been duped of Rs 2.16 crore in a sophisticated cyber fraud, with hackers impersonating one of the executives and diverting a payment intended for a Bengaluru-based firm, according to a First Information Report (FIR).
The FIR was filed with the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police on Nov 5., with the complaint being filed by Mahesh Babu K, an official from Group Pharmaceutical Ltd.
The FIR report suggests Group Pharmaceuticals was awaiting a payment of Rs 2.16 crore from Dr Reddy's Labs for supply of goods.
However, fraudsters were able to gain access to unauthorised emails between the two parties.
On Nov 3., these hackers were able to sent fraud mails to the finance team of Dr Reddy's Labs. The email tried to impersonate an official from Group Pharmaceutical and provided false bank account details for a Bank of Baroda account.
According to the FIR report, the fraudsters used the email ID 'KKeshav@Grouppharma.in' to mirror the identity of the genuine kkeshav@grouppharma.in.
Believing that the instructions were legitimate, Dr Reddy's official sent the payment to the fraudulent bank address.
The complaint from Group Pharma has urged the police to immediately freeze the fraudulent bank account and to recover the misappropriated funds. The FIR lists the accused's location as Vadodara, Gujarat.
Police have registered the case under multiple sections of the Information Technology Act, including 66(C) for identity theft and 66(D) for cheating by personation, as well as sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
An investigation is underway.
