WHAT IS MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE (MITM) FRAUD

The man-in-the-middle (MITM) fraud/attack is a type of cybercrime, in which a fraudster secretly relays and alters communication between two parties through emails to make victims believe they are directly communicating with each other The fraudster hacks into the official e-mail id of a company, which is in public domain, and gains information about the transactions that are to be made in future with another company After getting the required information, for instance, invoices of previous transactions, the fraudster creates a fake e-mail id similar to the official e-mail id of beneficiary company and asks for money to be delivered to a new bank account

Insider could also leak information to hackers

accused hacked the email id of the client company. After reading and copying the contents of the invoice sent by the Mumbaibased firm, the accused deleted it. The accused then created a new email id, identical to that of the Mumbai firm.”

“Using the fake email id, the fraudster sent an email to the client company with the same contents, but a different bank account. The money was then transferred by the client into the accused’s bank account,” the officer said.

Officers from the BKC cyber cell have advised the client company to file a complaint with the local police in MP.