Hyderabad: Fraudsters impersonating the managing director (MD) of a real estate firm on WhatsApp tricked a senior executive of the company into transferring ₹4.7 crore to their bank accounts through fraudulent means.In his complaint to the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), an assistant general manager of a city-based real estate group alleged that he received a WhatsApp message on June 30 displaying the name and photograph of the company’s managing director (MD).Believing the message to be genuine, the complainant, in response to the sender’s request, shared the bank balance details of two of the company’s entities. He was then instructed to transfer ₹1.8 crore to an account held by a private construction firm. The complainant completed the transfer after following the standard banking formalities.Subsequently, on July 1, the fraudster, posing as the MD, sent another message from the same phone number directing him to transfer ₹2.9 crore to a bank account belonging to a technology company. The complainant completed the transfer after obtaining the necessary bank and email confirmations.The fraud came to light only after the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) asked the complainant to verify the transactions by contacting the MD directly. The MD denied issuing any such instructions.“Immediately, I checked the WhatsApp messages and realised they had been sent from an unknown number displaying the name and photograph of our MD. By that time, the messages had also been deleted from the chat,” the complainant told the police.Based on his complaint, TGCSB registered a case on July 2 under Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act and Sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the BNS.TGCSB officials said they are analysing the bank transaction records and WhatsApp message details to identify and arrest the offenders.
