Pune: The account executive at a Bavdhan-based automobile dealership was conned out of Rs2.2 crore between Aug 13 and 14 in a phishing attack. This form of fraud, called whaling or ‘CEO fraud’, involves cybercriminals impersonating senior executives to trick employees into transferring money.The dealer (54) lodged a complaint against the crooks who posed as the directors of the firm with the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police on Monday.A team led by senior police inspector Ravikiran Nale swung into action and froze Rs 87 lakh of the fraudulently transferred amount.An officer said the crooks hacked the complainant’s mobile messaging app account. They blocked his cellphone number and created a new profile using a different number. They used the complainant’s photograph as the display picture.“The crooks then started chatting with the account executive. They messaged her not to call or send him text messages,” the officer said.The crooks then sent instructions to the account executive to transfer money and shared three bank account numbers with her. Between Aug 13 and 14, she transferred Rs 2.20 crore to the three accounts.“She did not verify the bank account details as the complainant used to instruct her to transfer the amounts,” the officer said.The fraud came to light on the evening of Aug 14 while the firm’s accounts were being closed. The dealer immediately approached the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police and alerted them.“We have frozen Rs 87 lakh. The remaining amount was further transferred to several other bank accounts. Our investigations are on,” the officer said.police.
