Jai Vardhman Khaniz Pvt. Ltd, a leading talc and industrial mineral provider based out of Sukher, Udaipur was duped of Rs 7.8 Lakhs by an email hacker. Preliminary investigations indicate that the hacker might be a Ukranian.

The hacker got information about export deal between Jai Vardhman Khanij and a German company by hacking into the email account of Gajanand from Jai Vardhman Khanji. The hacker changed the bank account number by hacking into the email and told the German company to deposit the amount in the changed bank account number. The fraud came to light when Gajanand followed up with the German company about payment. A complaint has been lodged with Sukher Police station and Police has started investigation.

As per police report, Gajanand informed that Jai Vardhman Khaniz Pvt. Ltd is engaged in export of industrial minerals in India and abroad. On 29-March, a German businessman sent email related to payment. Post that, an email came on 11-Apr and 15-Apr that notified about payment being made. When Gajanand called the German businessman about payment, the businessman said that the payment had already been made. When the stunned Gajanand carried out internal investigation, they found that his email had been hacked. Hacker took all information related to the export and emailed the German company from the hacked email id notifying him about the change in bank account number for payment transfer. The German company made payment to the changed account number and the hacker made away with the money.

Investigation about the bank account number revealed that it related to SDIR Bank. Information indicated that the hacker was possibly a Ukranian. The hacker was also spying on all the conversation that was happening between Jai Vardhman Khaniz Pvt. Ltd and the German firm.

Cyber experts suggest that this could be a case of email spoofing. This normally happens through either spam email or via fictitious message that comes on mobile and clicking link on the message results in account cloning.