The director of a prominent cancer treatment hospital lodged a complaint with the Bhoiwada police after two fake email accounts were created in his name.
The complainant told the police that emails were sent to his senior colleagues from the fake accounts, requesting them for ‘favours’, to ruin his reputation. The police have registered a complaint against an unidentified person and have begun investigating the case.
In his complaint, the director said that on September 18, his colleague from the radiation department informed him that she had received an email from an id that had his name. According to the police, the email stated: “I need you to please purchase some e-gift cards for me online. There are some prospects that I need to send these to but I haven’t been able to get them myself as I am tied-up in a meeting. I can’t take calls now, so an email will be fine. Let me know if it’s possible to get them for me right now, so I can give further details. I’II reimburse you before the end of the day.”
The director told his colleague that the email account did not belong to him and was a fake one that appeared similar to his.
On October 23, similar emails were sent to three other senior colleagues of the director. “All the three emails stated: ‘Can you please drop me a mail if you’re free’,” a police officer said.
{{/usCountry}}On October 23, similar emails were sent to three other senior colleagues of the director. “All the three emails stated: ‘Can you please drop me a mail if you’re free’,” a police officer said.
{{/usCountry}}The recipients found something amiss and informed the director. He then approached the police to file a complaint, based on which a first information report (FIR) (a copy of which is with HT) was filed against an unidentified accused under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66C (identity theft) and 66E (violation of privacy) of Information Technology Act.
“The process of writing to the email service provider has already been initiated to get the details, including the internet protocol (IP) address, of the email sender,” said another police officer.
Despite repeated attempts, the director of the hospital did not respond to calls or messages.