Pune CEO Fraud: Design firm accountant falls for crooks’ ‘CEO fraud’ trick, owner loses Rs1.9cr | Pune News

Pune: Cybercriminals manipulated an accountant of a city-based engineering and design company into transferring Rs1.90 crore after duping him by posing as the director of the firm.
Police on Tuesday said this type of online cheating was known as “whale phishing” or “CEO fraud“. The company’s 71-year-old director, a resident of Sinhagad Road, lodged a complaint on Monday with the Pune Cyber police.
An officer said the crooks had posed as the company director and sent a message to the accountant, asking him to transfer the amount to a bank account. The crooks, who used a photograph of the company’s director as the display picture on their messaging and video calling app account, told the accountant not to call or send him text messages as he was busy in finalising a business deal.
The accountant, who was working from his home in Warje, transferred the money from the company’s account after receiving the message on March 6 without verifying details of the account or the phone number used by the fraudsters.
Inspector Yashwant Nikam of Cyber police told TOI, “The entire amount was transferred to a private bank account in one transaction. We have sought details of the account from the bank. We are yet to record the accountant’s statement. The incident came to light after the director visited the company’s office in Mundhwa and checked the accounts.”
The FIR stated that the fraudsters used their phone number to contact the company’s accountant. Instead of making a regular phone call to the accountant, they sent a text on a messaging application displaying the director’s photograph. The message stated that the number was of the director’s new phone, and that he was in a business meeting and needed an urgent transfer of the money for a business deal. The bank account details were mentioned in the message.
Advocate Gaurav Jachak, who specialises in cyber crimes, told TOI that incidents of “whale phishing” or “CEO fraud” were much reported after 2021. He said “The fraudsters also send voice-modulated audio clips posing as CEOs or company owners on messaging applications to win the confidence of their targets. To remain guarded against fraudsters, people using messaging applications must activate the safety features that alert them if someone tries to pose as their friends, CEOs or company owner.”
Advocate Amey Dange said, “The accountant, in this case, should have verified the phone number and contacted the company owner before transferring any amount. Dual verification is a must. Fraudsters study social networking sites of company CEOs or directors and then track down the firms’ account department staffers. They often use photographs of the CEOs or directors to contact accountants.”
In Feb last year, a Pune-based real estate developer lost Rs 4 crore in a “whale phishing” scam and police arrested two people from Haryana. In Sept 2022, fraudsters cheated a prominent city-based company of Rs 1 crore by posing as its CEO.
Pune: Cybercriminals manipulated an accountant of a city-based engineering and design company into transferring Rs1.90 crore after duping him by posing as the director of the firm.
Police on Tuesday said this type of online cheating was known as “whale phishing” or “CEO fraud”. The company’s 71-year-old director, a resident of Sinhagad Road, lodged a complaint on Monday with the Pune Cyber police.
An officer said the crooks had posed as the company director and sent a message to the accountant, asking him to transfer the amount to a bank account. The crooks, who used a photograph of the company’s director as the display picture on their messaging and video calling app account, told the accountant not to call or send him text messages as he was busy in finalising a business deal.
The accountant, who was working from his home in Warje, transferred the money from the company’s account after receiving the message on March 6 without verifying details of the account or the phone number used by the fraudsters.
Inspector Yashwant Nikam of Cyber police told TOI, “The entire amount was transferred to a private bank account in one transaction. We have sought details of the account from the bank. We are yet to record the accountant’s statement. The incident came to light after the director visited the company’s office in Mundhwa and checked the accounts.”
The FIR stated that the fraudsters used their phone number to contact the company’s accountant. Instead of making a regular phone call to the accountant, they sent a text on a messaging application displaying the director’s photograph. The message stated that the number was of the director’s new phone, and that he was in a business meeting and needed an urgent transfer of the money for a business deal. The bank account details were mentioned in the message.
Advocate Gaurav Jachak, who specialises in cyber crimes, told TOI that incidents of “whale phishing” or “CEO fraud” were much reported after 2021. He said “The fraudsters also send voice-modulated audio clips posing as CEOs or company owners on messaging applications to win the confidence of their targets. To remain guarded against fraudsters, people using messaging applications must activate the safety features that alert them if someone tries to pose as their friends, CEOs or company owner.”
Advocate Amey Dange said, “The accountant, in this case, should have verified the phone number and contacted the company owner before transferring any amount. Dual verification is a must. Fraudsters study social networking sites of company CEOs or directors and then track down the firms’ account department staffers. They often use photographs of the CEOs or directors to contact accountants.”
In Feb last year, a Pune-based real estate developer lost Rs 4 crore in a “whale phishing” scam and police arrested two people from Haryana. In Sept 2022, fraudsters cheated a prominent city-based company of Rs 1 crore by posing as its CEO.