Mumbai: The state nodal cyber police have registered an offence against unknown fraudsters after several Maharashtra home department officials received WhatsApp messages from foreign numbers impersonating additional chief secretary (home) Manisha Mhaiskar to seek financial assistance.An official from home department has lodged an FIR alleging that the impersonator used Mhaiskar’s name and profile photograph to request an urgent transfer of Rs 50,000 to a bank account in the name of one Imran Khan. The complainant got suspicious after noticing the Indonesian number and verified the request with Mhaiskar. Similar messages were received by other home department officials too. Authorities are investigating the cyber fraud attempt and identity misuse.According to a complaint lodged by Ananda Gore, a Cell Officer in Home Department at Mantralaya, he received a WhatsApp message on Aug 12 from an international mobile number displaying the name and profile photograph of Mhaiskar. Believing the message to be genuine, Gore responded to the sender.The sender allegedly claimed to be busy in a meeting and requested Gore to urgently transfer Rs 50,000 to a person known to her. Bank account details allegedly provided for the transfer were in the name of Imran Khan at a private-sector small finance bank. However, Gore became suspicious after noticing that the message originated from an Indonesian number. He immediately contacted Mhaiskar and verified that the request was fraudulent.The complaint further states that similar messages were received by other home department officials. Cell officer Saugar Patil received a message on Aug 13, while Jaysen Ingole, under secretary in home department, received a similar message from the same number later that day. Another cell officer, Mangesh Jadhav, reportedly received a message on Aug 12. All the messages carried Mhaiskar’s name and photograph and referred to an urgent matter requiring immediate attention.
