Pune: A city-based automation company lost Rs 8.91 lakh after fraudsters spoofed the email identity of its German agent and provided fake bank details for transferring outstanding dues in March this year.The company’s director (47) had initially filed an online complaint. After a preliminary investigation, Narhe police registered a case on Thursday.An officer from Narhe police said that, according to the complainant, her firm has a business partnership with a Germany-based company that appointed an agent to manage deals between the two firms. The woman regularly received emails regarding business transactions from the agent.In Feb, the agent emailed her, asking her to check pending payments to the German firm. “The sender subsequently provided new bank account details and instructed her to transfer the pending amount to the new account instead of the previous one,” the officer said.He said the woman transferred Rs 8.91 lakh from her account to a Bank of Scotland account in March. She also sent a screenshot of the transaction to the sender after being asked to share a proof of payment.She became suspicious when she received another email in Aug asking her to clear the outstanding dues. “When the woman and her husband examined the emails, they found that crooks had used the German company’s name and the agent’s email identity to cheat her,” he said.
