A simple WhatsApp message claiming to be from a company’s top executive has cost a Mumbai-based private firm more than ₹10.4 crore in one of the biggest corporate impersonation frauds reported this year. According to the police, the fraud began on June 3 when a deputy general manager from the company’s accounts department received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number.
The sender identified himself as the firm’s executive director and asked the employee to save the number as his “personal contact.” To make the deception convincing, the fraudster used the executive director’s photograph as the display picture.
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The scammer informed the employee that he was attending an urgent meeting and would be unable to take calls. Instead, he instructed the employee through WhatsApp messages to transfer funds to several bank accounts. Believing the requests were genuine, the employee initiated the first transfer of ₹46.5 lakh. What followed was a series of transactions over the next 12 days.
Between June 3 and June 15, the employee carried out 63 separate transactions, transferring ₹10,40,71,924 to multiple bank accounts as directed by the fake executive director. The fraud remained undetected until the employee later contacted the real executive director through official communication channels and pursued payment invoices. The executive director denied issuing any such instructions, revealing the massive cyber fraud.
Following the complaint, Mumbai police traced the money trail. A breakthrough came when Delhi police received information from the Jasola branch of IDFC FIRST Bank about suspicious attempts to withdraw funds. Acting on the tip-off, Delhi Police arrested two suspects, identified as Vikas and Vansh, while they were attempting to withdraw ₹8 lakh in cash. During questioning, they admitted to allowing their bank accounts to be used for moving fraudulent funds in exchange for commissions.
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Further investigation led to the arrest of two more accused, Faiyaz Alam and Amit. Police said the accused were part of a network that provided bank accounts to cybercriminals for routing stolen money. Authorities suspect a larger cybercrime syndicate may be involved and are continuing efforts to identify the mastermind behind the operation.
