Cyber-fraudster hacks CEO’s email, dupes Mumbai firm of Rs13.22 lakh

A cyber-fraudster allegedly duped the chief executive officer (CEO) of a company in Goregaon (East) by hacking into his email account, sending a mail to one of his employees and making the latter transfer Rs13.22 lakh to an unknown account.

According to the Vanrai police, the incident took place between 10.17am and 3.30pm on March 15. The 40-year-old complainant is a trusted employee who handles the financial transactions of the company. The company makes household products and is located at Lotus Corporate Park in Goregaon (East).

The complainant received an email from his CEO’s email ID ordering him to transfer money from their private bank account to another account.

The employee did as he was asked and later called up his boss to confirm if the money had been transferred. However, the CEO denied sending any email and even checked his inbox to find no such mails were sent by him.

“It seems like the email account was hacked and the fraudster even deleted the email from the CEO’s inbox before signing out. The CEO was in the meeting at the time of the incident and did not check his emails,” said a police officer.

“Such crimes are very difficult to detect but can be easily prevented. Before sending the money, the sender should cross-check with the receiver through a phone call, SMS or WhatsApp whether any such request for sending money was made.”

Senior police inspector Jyotsna Rasam of Vanrai police station confirmed the registration of the FIR and said the probe is on with the help of the cyber cell.