The North Division Cyber Crime police are on the lookout for a conman who posing as the chairman of a pharma company duped its accountant to transfer ₹1.9 crore.
Based on the complaint by Saravanan V., the police have charged the unknown person under Information Technology Act, 2000 and also under section 318(4) (cheating that involves fraudulently inducing someone to deliver property) under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023 for further investigation .
The complaint stated that the conman using the name and picture of the chairman of the company messaged the Chief Operating Officer (COO) asking details of the company’s bank account a week ago. The imposter, claiming to be the chairman, used a different number claiming that it was his new number.
The company COO forwarded the message to the accountant asking him to provide the required details. The accused claiming to be the chairman said that he was in a business meeting with the government representative for a new project and couldn’t talk.
He asked the balance of the company account for which the accountant sent a screenshot on WhatsApp. The accused asked him to transfer ₹1.92 crore, saying it was required for a new project. When the complainant asked for the details of the bank account where he could transfer the money, the accused sent a bank account of cargo and courier company situated in Virar, East Mumbai. Trusting the messages to be genuine, the accountant followed the instructions and transferred the money and shared the details with the COO.
The fraud came to light when the chairman got to know of the fund transfer and told his employees that he had not sent any such messages. The police are now trying to track down the accused through the money transactions. “This is one of the most common forms of cyber fraud,” a senior police officer said and advised people to cross check any information before resorting to any monetary transactions.
