3.5 crore disappeared by order of the boss to send money! How to save yourself from cyber fraud?

Let’s say you are in a senior position in a company, where senior management often entrusts you with financial accounting. One day he received a WhatsApp message from the responsible senior to pick up the phone. He wrote, a huge amount of money has to be transferred from the company’s account to another account. What to do in such a situation? The person is known to you. Naturally, the mole will not arouse suspicion. Rather, take responsibility and ensure that the money reaches the right place.

But here lies a big trap (whatsapp boss scam). On the other side of the message is actually waiting for meeting danger. The message was sent by an impostor, not a company senior. And the money was sent to the fraudster’s account!

This is what happened with two different companies in India. And it has disappeared from the company a total of 3.5 million rupees! Both companies went bankrupt overnight. But how is the message from the fraudster sent by the senior? Here lies the real story.

It is known that a day before this incident, a ZIP file came from an unknown number on the WhatsApp of the employees, which was opened and the malware sent by the fraudster entered the phone! All the information on the person’s phone has reached the fraudster in one fell swoop. According to cybercrime experts, what happened next is like a thriller movie! The fraudster blocked the number of the senior manager of the concerned person’s office, instead saving his own number with the same name. After that, the person was sent a message saying that the money should be sent.

The scam started with an accountant working in an aluminum trading firm. On receiving the message from the managing director of the company, he sent 1.98 crore rupees. Later, when the fraud was detected, a complaint was filed with the Cyber ​​Crime Department. About 87.04 lakh rupees have been frozen in the investigation.

Then the accountant of a jewelery design firm fell into the same trap. They lost 1.5 crore rupees due to fraud.

How to stay safe?

• Do not open ZIP files or any other attachments from unknown numbers.
• Be sure to call or speak directly before sending large sums of money.
• Use good quality security software on mobile and computer.
• Stay updated about cyber security regularly.
• Get alerted immediately if you see unusual changes in phone contacts, settings or WhatsApp.
• Promptly report any suspicious incident to the Cyber ​​Crime Cell.

Today cyber fraud techniques are more advanced than ever. So be sure to be careful before opening unknown files and verify it in multiple ways when it comes to any financial transaction instructions.