Automobile company defrauded of over ₹1 crore in Gurugram

A reputed private automobile company was allegedly duped of over ₹1 crore by a fraudster on Friday, police informed

A reputed private automobile company was allegedly duped of over ₹1 crore by a fraudster on Friday, police informed. The suspect sent texts on WhatsApp to the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) posing as the vice chairman, asking to transfer funds to seven different bank accounts.

According to a complaint filed by Vivek Gupta, the company’s CFO at the Sector 44 police station, the text messages were received on Friday around 2pm. (Photo for representation)

According to a complaint filed by Vivek Gupta, the company’s CFO at the Sector 44 police station, the texts were received on Friday around 2 pm. The sender claimed to be the company’s vice chairman (VC) and the sender’s account had his photograph as the profile picture. Gupta verified the number on the True Caller app and found it belonged to the VC.

“Since I was informed by the sender that he is busy in an important meeting, I could not call him to enquire further. I carried out the instructions under the impression that they came from my superior and the transactions were both important and urgent. The sums were transferred from two entities of the JBM Group, namely JBM Industries and JBM Auto. At the request of the sender, the Unique Transaction Reference (UTR) numbers confirming the transfers were also shared on the same WhatsApp chat”, he stated in his complaint.

Gupta added that in total eight transactions, amounting to ₹1,11,71,696 were facilitated. According to bank details, the accounts where the money was transferred belong to Gautam Kumar, Fakaruddin Ali Ahmad, Subhash Bindhani, Sanjeeb Kumar Ghadei, Suman Sekhar Mohanty, Jai Prakash Yadav and Nur Mohammad.

“I subsequently discovered that the sender was not the VC and someone has perpetrated fraud by impersonation him, following which I approached the police”, Gupta added.

Following Gupta’s complaint, a case was registered against an unidentified person under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the India Penal Code and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act at the cybercrime police station.

“We have registered a case and transactions worth ₹40 lakhs have been put on hold. We are now investigating the matter and trying to identify the suspect”, inspector Om Prakash, investigating officer, said.