According to investigators, a fraudster pretended to be the popular automaker’s vice chairman and sent bogus messages to the company’s chief financial officer, transferring more than Rs 1 crore into seven different bank accounts. According to them, an FIR has been filed at the cybercrime police station.
Vivek Gupta, the Chief Financial Officer of JBM Group, allegedly said that he got messages on WhatsApp on Friday asking him to transfer certain amounts to the bank accounts.
“The fraudster claimed to be JBM Group vice chairman Nishant Arya. The WhatsApp profile picture of the caller displayed Arya’s photograph. On verifying the number on Truecaller, it reflected that the number belonged to Arya. Since I was informed by the sender that he is busy in an important meeting, I could not directly call to make any further inquiry.”
“I followed the sender’s instructions under the genuine belief that they came from my superior, Nishant Arya, who needed to complete these transactions because they were both highly important and exceedingly urgent. The funds came from JBM Industries and JBM Auto, two divisions of the JBM Group. The UTR numbers verifying such transfers were also shared on the same WhatsApp chat at the sender’s request “Gupta tacked on.
Eight transactions totaling £1,11,71,696 were made in seven separate bank accounts, according to the CFO of JBM Group.
Inspector Om Prakash stated, “An FIR has been filed at the cyber crime police station against the unidentified fraudster under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), and Section 66-D of the IT Act.”
