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Bengaluru firm loses Rs 26 lakh in cyber fraud to conmen posing as BSF officials
The firm reported the matter to the Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) and submitted all transaction details.
As per the complainant, the funds were traced to a PhonePe account in the name of one Pappu Sachin Yadav. After that, the judge called the cybercrime helpline and was asked to file a complaint with the Mumbai police. (Representational Image)
A Bengaluru-based firm was duped of over Rs 26 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as officials of the Border Security Force (BSF).
The firm, UNICASE, which imports and supplies hard plastic cases across India – including for defence organisations – was targeted earlier this month, according to a complaint filed with the East Division cybercrime police. The company’s owners, Mahesh Patil and Ravindra S Patil, said conmen lured them with a fake purchase order, creating the impression of an authentic defence procurement.
According to the complaint, the firm received an enquiry on March 9 from a person identifying himself as Akshay Kumar of the BSF Yelahanka purchase department. On March 11, the accused allegedly issued a purchase order. Following this, UNICASE sent a proforma invoice seeking a 50 per cent advance payment. Soon after, another individual claiming to be Kuldeep Singh from the ‘BSF accounts department’ contacted the firm, assuring that the payment would be processed as per “Indian Army procedure”.
“Under this pretext, he instructed the complainant to carry out multiple bank transactions. They asked us to carry out small test transactions first, including one that was refunded at a higher amount to gain our confidence. Thereafter, they instructed us to transfer larger sums to multiple accounts”, the FIR stated, and by the time the victims realised it was a scam, Rs 26 lakh had already been siphoned off.
The firm reported the matter to the Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) and submitted all transaction details. The payments had been made from the firm’s ICICI Bank current account.
The East Division cybercrime police are tracing the accused, freezing the beneficiary accounts, and attempting to recover the defrauded sum. Further investigations are underway.
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