A tobacco trader in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh was allegedly duped of Rs 2.34 crore after unidentified persons hacked into the e-mail account of one his managers and diverted funds that were due to him for supply of tobacco, police said today.
C Ramaiah, the manager, lodged a complaint with Tangutur police, saying that B Kotaiah, owner of a tobbaco company had exported tobacco worth Rs 2.34 crore to an importer in Bulgaria and was supposed to get the amount in this regard in his account in a PSU bank in Ongole town, they said.
However, the complainant claimed that his e-mail account was hacked by some persons who then corresponded to the importer to transfer the amount in two bank accounts in US and Turkey instead of the PSU bank account, which the importer did, police said quoting the complainant.
The matter came to light on Saturday last, though investigators said that whether the amount diverted in other accounts has been withdrawn or not was still not known.
Tangutur police registered a case of cheating under relevant sections of IPC and also under IT Act and the matter was transferred to Cyber Crime Cell of Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh police.
