Fraudsters impersonate firm director, dupe bank manager to transfer Rs 48.37 lakh

According to police officials, the complainant is a chief manager of the bank, who stated in his statement that the unknown fraudster initially contacted the Girgaon branch at around 3.30pm on August 28.

The caller identified himself as the director of a private limited company and claimed he wanted to start a fixed deposit of Rs 2 crore with the bank. He then asked the bank official to connect him to the manager of the Girgaon branch, after which the official provided him with the contact number of the complainant.

“As the complainant was on his bike, he could not answer the calls; the caller then sent him a message in which he identified himself as the director of a private limited company and requested a callback,” said an officer.

The complainant and the fraudster later spoke on a call during which the accused reiterated his desire to start a fixed deposit of Rs 2 crore. The chief manager subsequently checked and confirmed that the director and the private limited company had an account with them.

Police said that the caller also contacted the bank’s Dadar branch. However, the manager there reached out to the director to verify whether they wanted to initiate any fixed deposit.

On August 29, the fraudsters called the chief manager of the Girgaon branch again, claiming that he had exhausted his cheque book and requested that money be transferred to five different bank accounts.

“In order to win the chief manager’s trust, the caller said he would send a request on the company’s letterhead. Only after the fraudsters emailed the bank did the manager perform five transactions totaling Rs 48.37 lakh,” the officer added.

The fraud came to light after the chief manager was contacted by the manager of the Dadar branch at around 4.30 pm the same day and informed that the transaction performed was not requested by the original account holders.

“The original account holders, the director and his son, subsequently arrived at the branch and demanded the return of their money. Following this, a decision was made by the bank officials to transfer Rs 48 lakh back to them,” said an officer.

The chief manager of the bank then approached police through their helpline number and lodged a complaint, after which a case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act on September 30.