HYDERABAD: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) has been defrauded of Rs 5.47 crore in an online scam orchestrated by cybercriminals in late January. The infrastructure giant was allegedly deceived into transferring funds to fraudsters instead of its legitimate suppliers. The fraudulent activity came to light during an internal inquiry, prompting MEIL to file a complaint with the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB).
MEIL issued a purchase order on May 10, 2022, for the supply of a main burner package and an incinerator burner package, including local control panels, to M/s Duiker Combustion Engineers, Netherlands. The initial purchase order, valued at Euro 1,439,000, was later revised to Euro 2,649,000. Additionally, on May 17, 2022, a work order was placed with the same company for a complete reaction furnace and incinerator package, including sizing and basing design, worth Euro 795,000.
Under the terms of the agreement, MEIL had carried out multiple transactions with the Dutch company. On November 30, 2022, an amount of Euro 144,900 was transferred to M/s Duiker Combustion Engineers’ Netherlands-based bank account. Following the delivery of the third consignment, MEIL issued a letter of credit for Euro 2,214,300 on April 26, 2023.
Similarly, on November 3, 2022, MEIL transferred Euro 79,500 to the vendor upon achieving the first milestone of the work order. Another payment of Euro 318,000 was released on February 2, 2024, after the second milestone was completed. Each of these payments was confirmed by Peter Nuijs, the official representative of M/s Duiker Combustion Engineers, via his company email, nuijs@duiker.com.
However, on November 29, an email purportedly from Peter Nuijs, sent via nuijs@duiker.cam, claimed that the vendor’s bank account in the Netherlands had been restricted due to court orders. The email requested MEIL to make future payments to an alternate account based in the United States.
Following this, MEIL transferred Euro 318,000 to the new U.S.-based account on January 24, 2025, in accordance with the agreement. On January 27, 2025, a confirmation email was received from nujis@duiker.cam. Subsequently, on January 29, 2025, MEIL made another payment of Euro 289,800 to the same account.
When MEIL sought confirmation from the vendor regarding the payments made on January 24 and 25, Peter Nuijs denied receiving the amounts of Euro 289,800 and Euro 318,000. An internal probe by MEIL uncovered that unknown fraudsters had impersonated Peter Nuijs and had sent emails from the fake ID nuijs@duiker.cam instead of his official ID, nuijs@duiker.com. This elaborate phishing scheme resulted in MEIL unwittingly transferring Euro 607,800 (equivalent to `5.47 crore) to a fraudulent U.S. account instead of the vendor’s legitimate bank in the Netherlands.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the scam.