JSW Steel general manager duped of ₹50,000 by fraud posing as CEO
The deputy general manager of JSW Steel Ltd was tricked out of ₹50,000 by a fraudster who posed as the CEO of the company. The police suspect that this is a part of a larger scam targeting employees of the company.
MUMBAI: Deputy general manager of JSW Steel Ltd was allegedly duped of ₹50,000 by a fraudster who posed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm.
According to the police, the complainant Ajay Joshi, 57, a resident of Virar Joshi who has been working with the firm for the past 10 years, noticed a missed WhatsApp call from an unknown number when he was in the firm’s office in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on July 28. When checked, he found that the number’s display picture (DP) was that of the company’s CEO Jayant Acharya.
Joshi immediately called back the number thinking that it was the CEO whose call he had missed. However, the person at the other end cut his call and sent him a message, claiming it to be “confidential and urgent,” and asked Joshi to purchase some Apple App Store gift cards from Paytm and send them to him,” a police officer said.
Accordingly, Joshi purchased 10 gift cards costing ₹5,000 each. “Soon, the fraud asked him to purchase five more gift cards. However, Joshi got suspicious and enquired about the unknown number in the office and realised that he was cheated,” the police added.
Joshi then approached the BKC police on Monday and a case was registered against the unknown accused under section 420 (cheating) and 419 (cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The police said they learnt that the fraud/s have similarly duped another person, identified as Irfan Momin and works with the JSW Steel in Dolvi, Raigad. He too was approached by the frauds using the photo of the firm’s CEO as the DP.
The police suspect that common fraud/s involved in both the cases. “We are getting details about the other case also. We suspect the frauds are using the company’s employee data and calling them, posing as the CEO to cheat them. We have registered the case and will be writing to the cell companies to get details about the accused,” said the police officer.
