Hyderabad: MEIL Suffers ₹5.47 Crore Loss in Cyber Fraud, Files Complaint

The cybercriminals carried out their scheme by sending a deceptive email that closely mimicked the legitimate one, altering just a single character. The fraudulent email included updated bank account details.

Hyderabad: MEIL Falls Victim to Cyber Fraud, Loses ₹5.47 Crore

Hyderabad: Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) has suffered a financial loss of ₹5.47 crore (approximately €6.6 million) after falling prey to a sophisticated cyber fraud. The scam involved a phishing scheme where cybercriminals altered a single character in an email address to deceive the company.

The fraud traces back to orders MEIL placed with a Netherlands-based company—€14.39 lakh on May 10, 2022, followed by another €7.95 lakh order on May 17. Throughout this period, MEIL made online payments and received confirmation emails from the legitimate supplier.

However, on November 29, 2024, the company received an email claiming that court orders had placed restrictions on the supplier’s old bank account and instructed future payments to be made to a new account.

The cybercriminals executed their plan by sending a fraudulent email that closely resembled the legitimate one, changing just a single character and providing new bank account details. Trusting this communication, MEIL transferred €3.18 lakh to the fake account on January 24, 2025, followed by another €2.89 lakh transfer on January 29 after receiving a confirmation email from the scammers.

The fraud came to light when MEIL received a legitimate email from the Dutch company regarding pending payments, leading them to realize they had been duped.

MEIL promptly reported the cyber fraud to the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TCSB), detailing the total loss of ₹5.47 crore and seeking action against the perpetrators.