3 min readPuneJul 16, 2026 10:15 PM IST
A miniscule change at the end of an email address from “.com” to “.cam” cost a Pune engineering company Rs 10 lakh. In a classic man-in-the-middle cyber attack, fraudsters impersonated the firm’s Chinese supplier using an email address that was identical, except for the domain extension, convincing company officials to transfer the payment to a Dubai bank account.
A First Information Report was registered at Kalepadal police station of Pune city by a 25-year-old accounts executive of the company, which deals in production of polymer products and is located at Handewadi Road area of Kalepadal.
The company had been getting its key supplies from a China-based company. The complainant had been in communication with an e-mail address with the domain extension “.com” regarding supplies.
Some time ago, the complainant got an email from an address that had the same username and domain name, but with the domain extension “.cam”.
The mail said the Chinese company’s usual bank account was being audited and that the company had been receiving money on its Dubai based bank account. Failing to detect the deception, the complainant transferred Rs 10.45 lakh to the Dubai account for the supplies ordered at the time.
Weeks later, the complainant received an email from the Chinese firm saying that the payment for the scheduled order had not been received. When the complainant responded that the amount had already been remitted to the Dubai account as instructed, the supplier denied having sent any such email or having asked for the payment to be routed through a Dubai account.
Realising that the company had fallen victim to a business email compromise (BEC) or man-in-the-middle cyber fraud, the complainant approached the police, following which an FIR was registered. Police launched an investigation to trace the recipients of the fraudulent transaction and identify those behind the spoof email account.
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Cyber crime police stations in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have repeatedly issued advisories to businesses on man-in-the-middle (MitM) or on-path attacks. In such attacks, fraudsters intercept email or other communication between parties involved in a business transaction, allowing them to monitor ongoing correspondence and payment discussions. They then create a spoofed email address that closely resembles that of one of the parties — often differing by just a character or the domain extension — and falsely claim that the supplier’s regular bank account is unavailable, directing the victim to transfer funds to an account controlled by the fraudsters.
The advisories urge companies to regularly audit the security of their email systems, train finance and accounts staff to identify business email compromise fraud, and independently verify any request to change bank account details through a known telephone number or other trusted communication channel. Businesses are also advised to carefully scrutinise email domain names for subtle alterations and immediately report any suspected fraud to the cyber crime police.
