Ahmedabad: Boss’s photo in WhatsApp profile, an “important” instruction and Rs 30 lakh gone from a company’s bank account. A senior accounts manager of the company in Paldi was fooled by cybercriminals into believing he was following his boss’s orders to transfer the money to a client’s accountThe FIR filed with Cybercrime police states that the cheating came to light on Aug 14 when the accountant was in office. He received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number displaying the photograph of his boss. In the message, the “boss” said he was stuck in a meeting and could only communicate with the accountant via messages.The fraudster allegedly said he was discussing a project with a client and needed to make a payment. He asked the accountant how much could be transferred that day. The accountant replied that Rs 30 lakh could be paid by cheque and another Rs 30 lakh could be transferred.The impersonator then sent bank account details and instructed him to make the cheque payment. Believing the messages were from his senior, the accountant prepared a cheque for the amount and had it deposited into the account mentioned. The amount was debited from the company’s account around 12.50pm, the complaint states.The fraudster messaged again, asking for another Rs 20 lakh. The accountant readied another cheque and asked a colleague to get the boss’s signature on it. This time, the original boss questioned the payment, saying he had not authorised this payment. The accountant realised that the Rs 30 lakh transaction had been lost to a cybercriminal. After informing the issuing and receiving banks, the company called the cybercrime helpline 1930 and lodged an online complaint.Police said the account details provided by the fraudster were purportedly in the name of a company in Odisha.
