Pune businessman loses Rs 16 lakh after cyber fraudsters hack accountant's phone, pose as boss

A new method of cyber fraud has come to light in Pune. The mobile phone of the accountant of a mining businessman in the Viman Nagar area was hacked, and the name of the company's "sahib" was used to cheat the businessman of Rs 16 lakh. A case has been registered at the Airport police station.

According to information from the police, the complainant, Manish Devilal Kalwar (40), lives in the Lunkad Sky Belvedere society in Viman Nagar. He runs a mining business, and his company is called Mewara Mining Services.

The police said unidentified cyber fraudsters hacked the mobile phone of the company's accountant. After the phone was hacked, the fraudster deleted an old number saved under the name of the businessman's brother. In its place, the fraudster saved his own mobile number under the name "Ashish Sir". Ashish Sir is the company's "sahib". No one had any inkling that the number had been changed.

After changing the number, the fraudster sent a WhatsApp message to the businessman. The message described a very urgent task that had to be dealt with immediately and asked him to send money. The businessman was fully convinced that the sender was "Ashish Sir", the boss, himself. Trusting this, he sent Rs 16 lakh directly to the bank account given, without making any checks.

But within a short time the whole matter came out, and only then did he realise that he had been cheated.

Manish Kalwar then went immediately to the Airport police station and filed a complaint. Taking the matter seriously, the police have registered a case against the unidentified cyber fraudster under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act (IT Act).

The police are now trying to trace the fraudsters on the basis of digital evidence. No arrest has been reported in the case. Calling this new method of the cyber fraudsters a matter of concern, the police have appealed to people to be vigilant while transacting money.