AN FIR was registered on Friday in connection with an incident in which a cyber criminal allegedly tried to impersonate Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar by using his picture as a WhatsApp display picture and asked for money from two policemen. The police said the cellphone number has been traced to a person in Madhya Pradesh and a team will soon visit the state for further investigation. An officer said that on Friday, two policemen, including one from Sahar police station, received a message from a person using Phansalkar photograph as his display picture on WhatsApp. The number was, however, different Phansalkar's number. The message read, “There is something I need you to please do for me urgently as I am currently attending a very crucial meeting with limited phone calls? There are some listed prospect I am presenting them to today. I can't get it done myself due to meetings and i don't have any of my cards with me. How quickly can you arrange these gift cards because I need to send them out in less than an hour. I would provide you with the type of gift cards and the amount of each. I will reimburse you before the end of the day." Another message said, “Alright thanks a lot, Here are the details: 20 pieces of Amazon pay E gift cards with Rs 10,000 value on each card (Use either the Congratulations or Thank you theme). Have the link shared here so I can easily forward them directly to prospects. Please notify me once you are done with the purchase as it's quite urgent. Thanks." After receiving the messages, one of the two officers contacted Phansalkar's orderly, who in turn informed the commissioner. After it came to light that another officer had received a similar message, the police put out a statement asking people to not fall in the trap. An officer said an FIR has been registered and the cyber unit, along with the crime branch, is investigating the matter. “During the initial probe, it came to light that the phone number is registered in the name of a Gwalior-based person,” said an officer, adding that it is possible that someone else may be using the WhatsApp number. This is not the first time that fraudsters have tried to impersonate police officers to defraud people of money. The photographs of two others IPS officers in the state have been used by cyber fraudsters to seek money from people in their contact list.
