Mumbai: Cyber-fraudster poses as client, dupes govt bank of Rs 33.29 lakh

In a rare case, a cyber-fraudster impersonated a customer on the phone and tricked a government bank manager into sending Rs 33.29 lakh. The incident took place earlier this month in Panvel city. An FIR has been registered recently by the bank, and a probe has been initiated to find the accused.

The complainant in the case is one of the bank managers in charge of the online transactions. The manager joined the bank back in 2008 and a few years back was promoted to the post of manager in charge of NEFT, RTGS and other online banking related work. Many businessmen in the industrial sector have opened their accounts in the bank.

As per the complaint on July 12 morning, the complainant received a phone call from a cyber-fraudster impersonating one of their customers, who owns a private company.

The fraudster used the client’s name to identify himself and said his chequebook is over and he needs to make an urgent transaction due to a medical emergency. To lure the complainant, the fraudster added that he will be coming to the bank in the evening to make a fixed deposit of Rs 1 crore. The fraudster further stated that he has already spoken with their branch manager and identified her by name.

The complainant agreed to make the transactions but asked him to send an official request from their company official email-id on their company letterhead. An hour later, an email purported to be sent by the company was received by the complainant on his official bank email-id.

The complainant got convinced and sent Rs 33.29 lakh from the private company’s account to three different bank accounts. Sometime later, he received a phone call from the relationship manager of the customer, who said he never made any request for transactions. The customer, who received the transaction alerts on his phone, rushed to the bank and clarified. The bank then rushed to the police station to lodge an FIR.