21 December,2024 08:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
A similar incident was reported earlier in December to the cyber cell. Representation pic/istock
In yet another case of identity theft, a firm lost Rs 85 lakh after a scammer impersonated the owner of a company by using his image as a WhatsApp display picture and sending a message to the company's accountant. Believing the message to be genuine, the accountant unknowingly fell victim to the scam and transferred R85 lakh to a bank account provided by the fraudster, assuming it was an order from the owner. A similar incident was recently reported to the Navi Mumbai Cyber Cell, where a consultancy firm was duped of Rs 1.30 crore using the same method.
According to an FIR registered by the accountant of a private firm on November 25, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number stating: "I am Arjun Jolly, this is my new WhatsApp. Please save it." The complaint states that the WhatsApp profile photo displayed Arjun Jolly's image, leading the accountant to believe it was genuine. He saved the number and later received a call from the same number, but the caller was inaudible. Shortly after, the accountant received another message: "I'm in a meeting right now, and the network signal is weak." The scammer then sent another message asking, "Are you in the company right now?"
The accountant replied that he was out for a routine medical check-up but would return to the office by the afternoon. While on his way back, he received a call from the scammer posing as Arjun Jolly, who requested an urgent transfer of Rs 85 lakh to a bank account shared on WhatsApp. Since the accountant was not in the office, he instructed his junior to complete the transfer. After the transaction, the accountant sent an email to his boss regarding the transfer, only to receive a reply stating that no such request had been made. It was then that the accountant realised he had been duped in a cyber-fraud.
A similar incident was reported earlier in December, where a scammer used the same method to target the chief financial officer of a consultancy firm. By impersonating the company director through a WhatsApp profile photo, the scammer succeeded in duping the firm of Rs 1.30 crore. "This type of fraud appears to be a new modus operandi adopted by scammers. They seem to study the internal operations of companies and use the photos of owners and directors on WhatsApp to impersonate them. Additionally, they procure details of accountants and other employees to target corporate firms," an officer from the cyber cell explained.
