{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","generated":"2026-08-29T09:22:11.148Z","total":1,"returned":1,"limit":50,"offset":0,"next":null,"note":"Read loss_kind before summing loss_usd: only direct_loss and ransom_paid are comparable. Entries with entry_type \"benchmark\" are aggregate agency statistics and overlap with everything else by construction."},"results":[{"title":"Tecnimont India loses $18.6 million to fake CEO conference calls","date":"2018-12","date_precision":"month","victim_org":"Tecnimont SpA (Indian subsidiary, Maire Tecnimont group)","sector":"Professional Services","country":"India","primary_vector":"Business Email Compromise","secondary_vectors":["Vishing (Voice Phishing)","Vendor / Supply Chain Impersonation"],"ai_involvement":"No AI reported","ai_notes":"Impersonation on the conference calls was performed by live human actors; no synthetic voice was reported.","outcomes":["Wire Fraud / Financial Loss"],"loss_usd":18600000,"loss_note":"About 1.3 billion rupees, reported as roughly $18.5-18.6 million, sent in three installments to banks in Hong Kong.","records_affected":null,"threat_actor":"Group reported by the company to be operating from China","summary":"The Indian arm of Italian engineering group Tecnimont SpA transferred approximately $18.6 million in three installments to Hong Kong bank accounts in late 2018 after a fraud ring impersonated the group's chief executive. The attackers emailed from a lookalike address and staged conference calls in which people posed as the CEO, other senior executives and a Swiss lawyer, discussing a confidential acquisition in China. The company launched a forensic investigation and dismissed its India head and finance chief.","how_it_worked":"This scheme layered voice over email to defeat skepticism. Messages arrived from a domain closely resembling the group CEO's, describing a secret acquisition in China that had to be funded from India because regulatory constraints supposedly blocked transfers from Italy. To answer the obvious objection, the fraudsters convened conference calls in which multiple actors played the CEO, group executives and an external Swiss attorney, giving the transaction the texture of a real deal team. Secrecy was justified as regulatory sensitivity, which kept the India head from calling headquarters. Three tranches were wired to Hong Kong before the parent company discovered the deception.","lessons":"Verification must go through a channel the attacker does not control: a callback to headquarters' known switchboard would have collapsed the entire fake deal team.","confidence":"Reported","sources":[{"title":"Chinese group swindles $18.5 million from Indian arm of Italian company","url":"https://in.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/MAIRE-S-P-A-13369769/news/Maire-Tecnimont-Chinese-group-swindles-18-5-million-from-Indian-arm-of-Italian-company-Economic-27846733/","publisher":"The Economic Times via MarketScreener"},{"title":"BEC Scam Leads to Theft of $18.6 Million","url":"https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/bec-scam-leads-to-theft-186-million-fraud-a-11930","publisher":"BankInfoSecurity"}],"entry_type":"incident","slug":"2018-tecnimont-india-loses-18-6-million-to-fake-ceo-conference-calls","year":2018,"loss_kind":"direct_loss","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2018-tecnimont-india-loses-18-6-million-to-fake-ceo-conference-calls"}]}