Pune firm loses Rs2.34 crore to fraudsters

In Pune, cybercriminals tricked a data analysis company out of over Rs 2.34 crore by impersonating the company’s founder. The founder is currently based in Canada. The incident occurred between February 19 and 24 and was reported to the police on Saturday. The company’s accountant became a victim of a scam known as "CEO fraud" or "whale phishing." This is the second similar case in Pune in the past three weeks. Earlier, an elderly director from an engineering firm was cheated out of Rs 1.9 crore, with some of that money later recovered. The scam began when the fraudsters made a missed call to a staff member and then sent a message pretending to be the founder. The staff member, who was at the hospital with his mother, forwarded the message to the accountant. The scammers asked for details about the company’s accounts, claiming they needed the money to pay an Australian firm. Without verifying the call, the accountant transferred money to 11 different bank accounts as requested. The fraudsters kept asking for more funds, claiming they needed Rs 3 crore. Eventually, another company director became suspicious when different names appeared on the beneficiary accounts. They rushed to the bank but by then, Rs 2.34 crore had already been sent to the scammers. The police are now investigating the case.