A fraud of Rs. 17.9 lakh has been reported after cybercriminals allegedly impersonated a director of a Bengaluru-based private company and tricked bank officials into transferring funds from the company’s account.
The complaint was filed by the Chief Manager of the SBI Wilson Garden branch, who alleged that the fraudsters used WhatsApp calls, messages and forged documents to gain the confidence of bank officials and obtain unauthorised fund transfers.
What Happened in the Case?
According to the complaint, the fraud began on June 9 when the Chief Manager received a WhatsApp voice call from a person who introduced himself as Rajesh Chandra Jayashankar, allegedly a director of a private company that maintained accounts with the branch.
During the conversation, the caller expressed interest in placing fixed deposits worth Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 3 crore with the bank. Over the next two days, he continued communicating with bank officials through WhatsApp and presented himself as a senior company representative.
On June 10, the caller allegedly requested the bank to process urgent fund transfers on behalf of the company, claiming that the transactions were required for business purposes and should be completed before his proposed visit to the branch.
Bank officials found the requests convincing because the documents shared by the caller appeared genuine and matched the company’s records available with the bank. In addition, a Truecaller search reportedly displayed the caller’s identity as “Raja,” further increasing their confidence.
Believing the instructions to be authentic, bank officials processed two transactions from the company’s account. An amount of Rs. 9.40 lakh was transferred to an ESAF Small Finance Bank account, while Rs. 8.50 lakh was transferred to a Kotak Mahindra Bank account.
How Was the Fraud Discovered?
The fraud came to light on June 12 when Narasimha Reddy, the company’s Finance Manager, visited the branch and informed bank officials that neither the company nor its directors had authorised the transactions.
The bank then realised that fraudsters had impersonated a company director and tricked officials into transferring the funds. Attempts to contact the caller failed as the mobile number used in the communication had already been switched off.
Action Taken by the Bank and Police
After detecting the fraud, the bank immediately informed the beneficiary banks and initiated steps to freeze the recipient accounts. Investigators managed to freeze some accounts and trace a portion of the transferred money.
However, during the investigation, it was found that Rs. 5 lakh from the Kotak Mahindra Bank account had already been transferred to another account before preventive measures could be taken.
Police suspect that the accused used mobile phones, WhatsApp communications, forged documents and other electronic means to impersonate a company director and induce bank officials to transfer funds.
Preliminary investigations have identified the suspects as Kashim Ansari, Saba Aftab Bagdadi and Mohammad Zubair.
Police Case Registered
A case has been registered at Wilson Garden Police Station under Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Sections 318(4), 319(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Police are continuing their investigation to trace the remaining funds and identify any other persons involved in the fraud.
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