SynopsisWhile the government has said that such cyber frauds are causing increased bilateral trade disputes and asked exporters to be cautious, exporters expect such instances to increase.
A slow global economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic led to a sharp rise in cyber frauds on Indian exporters last year, with 410 exporters reporting email spoofing/phishing frauds, forged SWIFT details or attempted frauds, up 43% from 287 in 2019. While the government has said that such cyber frauds are causing increased bilateral trade disputes and asked exporters to be cautious, exporters expect such instances to increase.
Of the 31,000-odd members of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), atleast 400 faced such frauds with minor changes in buyers’ email addresses, suggesting different banking details so as to get funds in their accounts.
The victims end up being Indian exporters who, having supplied the goods, neither have the goods in their possession nor have received the payment.
“The majority of frauds were in the nature of changes in details so minute that they were not discernible unless one went through them very meticulously,” said FIEO director general Ajay Sahai.
Another modus operandi was to take the entire banking details of exporters to remit advance so as to build their confidence and then seek exports on credit and sell goods on high seas and vanish. Sometimes, forged SWIFT details were sent to get custody of documents and goods and vanish.
While no sector was particularly targeted, the cyber fraud victims are usually small companies who do not have adequate technical support and managing with small teams.
In a trade advisory last week, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said the Ministry of External Affairs has informed that though this is registered as a cybercrime in the respective jurisdictions of the country, the “authorities cannot do much to reverse the transaction”.
“Even in cases, where exporters detected the fraud within 24-48 hrs of the remittance of money to the fraudster account, it was possible to stop or recover the account but not in cases where it was noticed too late,” Sahai said.
The commerce department has asked exporters to implement security protocols, follow better password practices in email communications and confirm bank details by another channel such as a secure voice line in order to protect their payments from cyber frauds.
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