Mumbai: Cyber police officials saved Rs 1.8 crore in a case where fraudsters had duped a company of Rs 1.98 crore on Aug 4. “The timely information to the police resulted in saving 92% of the total cheating amount,” said a police source.The 48-year-old complainant, who works as general manager-accounts and banking administrator at a south Mumbai private company, lodged the FIR on Aug 5 with the south region cyber police station. He told the police that he had been working with the company which is into manufacturing railway bogies, couplers, and wagons.In his statement to the police, he said that he had received a WhatsApp message on Aug 4 from an unknown number. The sender used the name and photograph of their company’s director and claimed that it was his new number. The next day, the impersonator allegedly asked the complainant to urgently make payment of Rs 1.98 crore to a client for business purposes. The caller shared bank details of an account in the name of a private firm. Thinking that it was his company’s director, the complainant transferred the money to the account given by the accused.He then called up the company’s director to inform him that the money was transferred. The director said he never asked him to transfer the money. They realised they had been cheated and contacted the police. A team led by senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale and API Ishan Kharote began the probe, and sub inspector Poonam Jadhav of the 1930 helpline team coordinated with the nodal officers of the bank and blocked the money in the beneficiary’s account. The blocked/saved money will now be returned to the complainant’s company after a court order.
