A 37-year-old senior manager of a shipping company had lodged a complaint with the Mumbai Police that on October 22, cyber criminals posing as company directors had allegedly transferred Rs 95 lakh from his account. Police said the incident came to light when the complainant contacted his superior to inform him about the ‘director’s’ request. Its complaint was lodged on the helpline number.
According to police officials, the complainant, whose office is in Nariman Point, has been working with the company for two years.
In his statement to the police, the complainant said that he was in the office when he received a message on WhatsApp. The sender, posing as a director of the company, claimed that this was his new number and requested to save it.
“Subsequently on October 22 at 10 am, criminals posing as the director messaged him and asked if he was in the office. When he confirmed, they asked him to send a photo of the balance in the company’s bank account,” said a cyber police officer.
During the conversation, the swindler said he was interrupted in a meeting with a government official, and instructed to transfer Rs 95 lakh to a bank account for an urgent project. “In the message, the complainant gave the account details and as he believed the director had asked him to, he immediately transferred the amount,” an officer said.
When he realized something was wrong, the manager informed his superiors about the transfer and upon investigation found out that he had been cheated.
incident reported Maharashtra A complaint application was submitted to the cyber crime portal and cyber police station of Mumbai Police.
“After preliminary investigation, a case was registered on Monday. We are trying to trace the suspects with the help of bank account details and call data records of the number from which the complainant was contacted, an investigator said.