Mumbai INOX executive duped of Rs 10.4 crore via WhatsApp, four arrested in Delhi

A senior accounts executive with the INOX Group in Mumbai was allegedly duped into transferring more than Rs 10.40 crore in 63 transactions over several days this month after receiving WhatsApp messages from a mobile number he believed was that of the company’s Executive Director, Siddharth Jain. The conglomerate has interests in industrial gases and is a cinema chain major.

As the Mumbai Police launched an investigation, Delhi Police Tuesday arrested four persons, including two who had allegedly rented out  their bank accounts to the mastermind in exchange for a commission. The account holders, police said, were held when they went to a bank in South-East Delhi to withdraw Rs 8 lakh in cash.

In his complaint to Mumbai Police — a senior Mumbai police officer confirmed that the complaint was received at the South cyber police station and an FIR was being registered — Girish Amin, a Deputy General Manager in the company’s accounts branch, said he received a WhatsApp message on June 3 from a mobile number claiming to belong to Jain. The sender asked him to save it as a “very personal number” and not share it with anyone.

Amin, who has worked with the company for 31 years, said the account’s display picture showed Jain’s photograph, leading him to believe the messages were genuine.

According to the complaint, the sender, posing as Jain, told Amin he was entering a meeting and asked that no one call him, saying he would call back later. “Soon after, the impersonator allegedly shared bank account details and instructed Amin to transfer Rs 46,50,102, which Amin processed from the company’s bank account believing the instruction to be authentic,” a source said, citing the complaint.

Between June 3 and June 15, Amin allegedly acted on similar WhatsApp instructions and transferred money from the company’s account to multiple beneficiary accounts named by the sender. In all, 63 transactions amounting to Rs 10,40,71,924 were carried out, the complaint alleged.

The fraud came to light Tuesday when Amin contacted Jain through official channels to seek invoices related to the transactions for accounting purposes.

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“Jain told him he had never issued any such instructions, following which Amin realised he had been duped by someone using Jain’s name and photograph on WhatsApp,” the source said. Amin then lodged a complaint with the 1930 cyber helpline, filed a police complaint and submitted screenshots of the WhatsApp conversations as evidence.

When contacted, Amin declined to comment.

In Delhi, the South-East district police received a call on Tuesday afternoon from IDFC FIRST Bank’s Jasola branch informing them that two men had come to withdraw Rs 8 lakh in cash.

Police had recently conducted multiple drives under Operation CyHawk, during which bank officials in the district were asked to alert them about suspicious activity, particularly unusual withdrawals.

“A police team rushed to the bank, where personnel from Sarita Vihar police station apprehended the two suspects, identified as Vikash and Vansh. During questioning, the two allegedly told police they had rented out their bank accounts to route illicit funds in return for promised commissions of Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000, respectively,” the source said.

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Senior officers were informed and a trap was laid, leading to the arrest of two alleged handlers, Faiyaz Alam and Amit, from Madanpur Khadar.

“During questioning, Faiyaz allegedly told police he had been promised a two per cent commission by a co-conspirator, who is absconding, to arrange bank accounts for laundering money obtained through cyber fraud,” the source said.