Bank VP loses ₹3.99 lakh to WhatsApp impersonator

Mumbai A vice president with a private bank fell prey to a WhatsApp impersonation cyber-fraud, after an unidentified accused posed as his boss and convinced him to send gift vouchers worth close to ₹4 lakh on Wednesday

Mumbai A vice president with a private bank fell prey to a WhatsApp impersonation cyber-fraud, after an unidentified accused posed as his boss and convinced him to send gift vouchers worth close to ₹4 lakh on Wednesday.

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According to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police, the victim, Amrit Jaiswal (33), is employed with the Kotak Mahindra bank and works out of their BKC office. The police said that Jaiswal was at work when he received a call at around 11 am on Wednesday.

“The caller identified himself as my boss and told me to urgently send gift vouchers via Amazon to an email ID that he specified. The caller had my boss’ photograph as his display picture on the WhatsApp,” Jaiswal has said in his statement to the police.

Subsequently, Jaiswal sent vouchers worth a total of ₹3.99 lakh, splitting the payment between his and his wife’s bank accounts. However, he later learned that the person at the other end was an impersonator and rushed to the police station on Wednesday evening.

An officer with the BKC police station said that the technical details of the number used by the accused were being analysed.

“Typically, such fraudsters create a feeling of urgency in their victims’ minds, firstly by impersonating their superiors and secondly by saying that they are in an important meeting and need to send vouchers to the clients. The trick works in the sense that the victim acts first and thinks later,” said the officer.

The police have registered an FIR of cheating and impersonation under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and are conducting further inquiries into the matter.

BOX: Quick action gets victim’s money back

A Santacruz resident, who had lost ₹7.14 lakh to a cyber-fraud last month, was able to get almost all of his money back, thanks to quick reporting of the crime. The police said that the victim, Himanshu Desai, fell prey to a cybercriminal posing as a tourism portal representative and ended up revealing his credit card details. As a result, a transaction worth ₹7,14,885 was made on his card on February 25. “As the victim approached us immediately after the transaction, we were able to freeze it and worked with the concerned banks to reverse it. Hence, ₹7.05 lakh were credited back to his card on Wednesday,” said an officer with the Santacruz police station.