Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is the country’s biggest pharma company.
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, one of the country’s largest and reputed pharmaceutical companies, has become the victim of a major corporate cyber fraud. This case is not of a small amount, but of fraud of entire Rs 2.16 crore. The surprising thing is that the fraudsters carried out this entire fraud through just one fake email. This incident has come to light from an FIR lodged with the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police on November 5.
The treasury is empty with a ‘capital K’
According to a Mint report, this entire fraud took place under the guise of a normal business transaction between two companies. Dr. Reddy’s Labs had to pay Rs 2.16 crore to one of its suppliers, Group Pharmaceuticals Limited, for the goods supplied. The finance teams of both the companies were in touch through email regarding this payment.
Cyber thugs, who were probably keeping an eye on the email communication of these two companies for a long time, hacked (intercepted) this conversation. He waited for the right opportunity and on November 3, when Dr. Reddy’s finance team was about to make the payment, he sprung his trap.
The fraudsters created a fake email in the name of an executive of Group Pharmaceuticals and sent it to the finance team of Dr. Reddy’s. This email was so vicious that anyone would be deceived at first glance. The real official’s email address was ‘[email protected]’ (ie with a small ‘k’). But the address of the fake email sent by the fraudsters was ‘[email protected]’ (ie with a capital ‘K’).
Usually such a detail goes unnoticed. Dr. Reddy’s team also considered this email to be genuine. In this fake email it was said that this time the payment should be transferred to a different account of Bank of Baroda instead of the old account. The finance team considered this instruction as official and transferred the entire amount of Rs 2.16 crore to that fake account.
Wire connected from Bengaluru to Vadodara
This high-tech fraud came to light when Group Pharmaceuticals approached Dr Reddy’s for its dues of Rs 2.16 crore. Only then did the officials of both the companies realize that a huge fraud had happened to them. Instead of reaching the company’s account, the money had gone into the pockets of the swindlers.
As soon as the fraud was discovered, Mahesh Babu of Group Pharmaceuticals. Filed a complaint with the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police on 5 November. He has requested the police to immediately freeze that fake bank account and get the money back. According to the FIR, the fake account to which this amount has been transferred is from Vadodara, Gujarat.
Police are now investigating the network of this cyber fraud gang spread from Bengaluru to Vadodara. Taking this matter seriously, the police have registered a case under sections 66(C) (identity theft) and 66(D) (fraud by changing identity) of the IT Act as well as relevant sections of the Indian Justice Code.