Mumbai: Woman duped by a fraudster impersonating as CEO, steals Rs 2.5L

A woman working as a secretary in the sales department of a posh hotel in Kurla was duped for Rs 2.5 lakh by a cyber fraudster impersonating as the hotel’s CEO. According to the MIDC police, the woman was at home on Tuesday night when she received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number with a DP (display photo) of her CEO.

The message stated that he was in an urgent meeting and sought her help for important work. He asked her to buy 25 e-gift cards of Rs 10,000 each from an e-commerce company, for which she spent the entire night. The accused assured to return the money to her later.

The next afternoon, when she met the CEO, she learnt that she had been duped as he seemed baffled. When she showed him the WhatsApp conversation, he said the number does not belong to him and someone had put his photograph as the DP to con her.

After she approached the police, a case was registered on charges of cheating by personation, dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and identity theft by using computer resources.

In March this year, a CEO of a private company lodged a complaint with the Turbhe police claiming that he had received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, which had the DP of the company’s chairman, asking him to send gift cards of an e-commerce platform. The man, in a span of four hours, ended up sending 45 gift cards of Rs 10,000 each to the accused and later learnt that he had been duped

Published on: Friday, July 15, 2022, 11:50 AM IST