MUMBAI: Last week, an accountant at a private company received a WhatsApp message appearing to be from a senior colleague, directing him to urgently transfer Rs 1 crore of company funds. The message included bank account details, and the accountant, believing it to be genuine, completed the transfer.It was only during routine verification calls that he discovered the colleague had sent no such message. The company’s management immediately contacted the national cyber financial fraud helpline, 1930The trained team blocked the entire amount before the scammers could withdraw any of it.The case is among several in which the helpline has prevented stolen money from disappearing into criminal accounts. Between Jan and July this year, it helped block or save Rs 162 crore.Since its launch in 2022, it has helped prevent losses of Rs 552 crore. Officials said the system is most effective when victims report the fraud with complete transaction details within the crucial “golden hour”.In June, an employee of a leading multiplex chain was tricked into transferring Rs 10.4 crore of company funds through 63 transactions. He believed he was communicating with the firm’s executive director, but the fraudster had simply used the director’s photograph as a WhatsApp display picture. Claiming he was about to enter a meeting and urgently needed the money, the scammer pressured the employee into making the transfers. Once the fraud was detected, the 1930 helpline managed to block or recover Rs 5.7 crore.The helpline received 2.7 lakh calls from cyber fraud victims between Jan and July, including 53,000 in July alone. During the month, it helped save or block Rs 24.5 crore. Officers said the recovered money is returned to victims after court orders are obtained.Apart from the helpline, timely intervention by the cyber police during an ongoing scam has also proved critical. In one case, a south Mumbai senior citizen visited a bank to transfer a large sum through RTGS. Suspicious of his vague explanation, the bank teller alerted the South Cyber Police, who rushed to the branch and prevented him from transferring any more money beyond the amount he had already sent.In another incident last month, a businessman from Malabar Hill received a call from a fraudster posing as a police officer, falsely accusing him of involvement in illegal activities. Panicked, he confided in a neighbour who knew deputy police commissioner Bajrang Bansode of the Mumbai cyber wing. Within minutes of being alerted, Bansode confirmed it was a scam and dispatched cyber police personnel to the businessman’s home to assist him.
