The accountant received a message on March 6 from someone pretending to be the director.
The fraudsters used the director’s photograph as their profile picture on a messaging app to make the scam believable.
The fake director claimed he was in a business meeting and needed an urgent money transfer.
Imagine receiving a message from your boss, urgently asking for a large money transfer to close an important business deal. You’d probably act fast. But what if the message wasn’t actually from your boss? That’s exactly what happened to an accountant at a Pune-based engineering and design company, who unknowingly transferred Rs 1.9 crore to fraudsters posing as the firm’s director. Keep reading to know how the scam unfolded.
SurveyThe accountant received a message on March 6 from someone pretending to be the director. The fraudsters even used the director’s photograph as their profile picture on a messaging app to make the scam more believable.
The fake director claimed he was in a business meeting and needed an urgent money transfer, reports TOI. He also told the accountant not to call or text, saying he was busy finalising a deal. Trusting the message, the accountant, who was working from home, transferred the entire amount to the bank account mentioned in the message without verifying the request.
Also read: Senior citizen loses over Rs 1cr in low-interest loan scam: Here’s what happened
The fraud was discovered only when the director visited the company’s office and checked the accounts. By then, the money was gone.
This type of online scam is known as “Whale Phishing” or “CEO fraud.” Fraudsters study social media profiles of company directors or CEOs and gather enough information to impersonate them convincingly. Sometimes, they even use voice-modulated audio clips to sound like the person they are pretending to be.
Also read: Retired Lieutenant General loses Rs 94,000 to hotel booking scam: Here’s what happened
How to avoid falling for such scams
If you receive a suspicious message, call the sender directly to confirm. Enable security features on messaging apps that alert you if someone is impersonating a contact. And always double-check bank details before making any transfers, no matter how urgent the request seems.
Follow Us
Ayushi Jain
Tech news writer by day, BGMI player by night. Combining my passion for tech and gaming to bring you the latest in both worlds. View Full Profile
