Mumbai: Andheri-based pharma company duped of Rs 38 lakh by using top official's DP

MUMBAI: The chief financial officer of an Andheri-based pharmaceutical company has lodged a complaint stating that he was duped of Rs37.5 lakh by a person who claimed to be the company's director and asked him to transfer money immediately to three bank accounts on November 1.
Swift action by the cyber police team from MIDC police station helped in recovering Rs 27.7 lakh after freezing six bank accounts on November 4. The fraud occurred after the chief financial officer believed a text message showing the company director's display picture (DP) due to which he transferred the money.
Deputy commissioner of police (Zone X) Maheshwar Reddy said that the team - MIDC police senior inspector Satish Gaikwad, inspector Mahesh Kale, sub-inspector Pramod Khotwad and cyber team - got in touch with the bank's nodal officer and initiated the process to freeze the multiple accounts that the fraudster had created to transfer the funds so that he could withdraw the funds easily. "At present, the team has managed to recover Rs 27.7 lakh and is in the process to try and recover more. The team has also sought details of the accounts to track down the accused," said Reddy.
The fraud first took place around 2 pm when the pharma company's chief financial officer, Vinayak Shirodkar, received a message on his WhatsApp number. "The text message said "its me Rajendra Agarwal. Its very personal number. Please don't share with anyone, I am in a meeting so please don't call me---after my meeting, I will call you".
In the complaint, a company employee, Somnath Chandan (40), said: "The DP in the WhatsApp number showed Agarwal which made Shirodkar believe the message. The first transaction was done for Rs 9.6 lakh. Later, three more transactions for Rs 8.9 lakh, Rs 9.8 lakh, and Rs 9.14 lakh were carried out."
Sub-inspector Khotwad said Shirodkar grew suspicious when the fraudster kept asking to transfer money to different bank accounts. He called up Agarwal and learned that he had never asked Shirodkar to transfer any money.
"The case was filed on November 1. In the last two days, we contacted nodal officers of all banks and got at least six accounts frozen and stopped transfer of Rs 27.5 lakh. Work is on to recover as much as possible. The fraudster, within seconds, transferred the amount to multiple accounts in small amounts for ease of withdrawal from account without any hurdle" he said.