BENGALURU: The Cyber Crime Police have recovered the entire Rs 2.16 crore within the ‘golden hour’ in an email spoofing fraud case, marking the first instance of a full recovery of the defrauded amount in a cybercrime case. The fraudster was operating from Nigeria, officials said,
The police said the fraud occurred on November 4, 2025 when cyber criminals impersonated the official email ID of Keshava Group Pharmaceuticals and sent a fraudulent payment request to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company with an office on MG Road, Bengaluru, and a business partner of Keshava Group.
Misled by the email, which closely resembled the official domain of Keshava Group, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories transferred Rs 2.16 crore to a mule bank account. The police said the complainant realised the fraud within minutes and immediately alerted the cybercrime police.
Acting swiftly, the police traced the transaction to a private bank branch in Gujarat and instructed the bank to freeze the account.
“The account was frozen within an hour of the fraud,” a senior officer said.
Further investigation revealed that the account was opened in the name of a private consultancy firm operated by a 57-year-old woman. Later, a city court issued a release order, enabling the bank to return the entire defrauded amount to the victim company.
A senior police officer cautioned that since official email IDs of companies are often available in the public domain, fraudsters randomly target large firms using sophisticated spoofing techniques.