Bhopal, Sep 24 (IANS) A suspected cyber fraud targeting a private university was foiled in Bhopal after police swiftly recovered the WhatsApp account of an accountant who was allegedly tricked into initiating a Rs 1.9-crore transaction, police said on Thursday.
The incident was reported when Rishabh Bhargava, an accountant at Sage University, received a WhatsApp message at around 2:30 p.m. purportedly from the university’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Sanjeev Agrawal.
According to the police, the message instructed Bhargava to urgently transfer Rs 1.9 crore to a bank account in the name of Bound Builders OPC Private Limited.
Bhargava replied to the message with “Yes Sir” and added the bank account as a beneficiary in the university’s account.
He subsequently noticed that his WhatsApp account appeared to be operating without his control, raising suspicion that it had been compromised.
He immediately contacted Katara Hills police, following which the police cyber team initiated efforts to recover the account and prevent the proposed transaction.
“Rishabh received a WhatsApp message from a number claiming to belong to the university’s CMD and was asked to make a payment of Rs 1.9 crore. He became suspicious after noticing unusual activity on his WhatsApp account and immediately approached the police,” Katara Hills Station House Officer (SHO) Sunil Dube told IANS.
Police lodged a complaint with the WhatsApp support team and generated a ticket for recovery of the compromised account.
The applicant’s email account was also used to contact the support team.
The WhatsApp account was restored shortly afterwards, allowing Bhargava to regain control and resume sending and receiving messages and calls.
Bhargava then contacted his senior colleagues at the university and learnt that Agrawal had not sent any message asking him to make the payment.
“The timely response helped prevent the Rs 1.9-crore cyber fraud. People should independently verify any request for large financial transactions received through WhatsApp or other messaging platforms before acting on it,” SHO Dube said.
The police action was taken under the supervision of DCP Zone-2 Vikas Kumar Lawania and Additional DCP Zone-2 Mini Tiwari, while ACP Baghsewania Umrao Singh oversaw the operation.
Constables Vipin Singh Rajawat and Jitendra Singh Dangi, who handle cyber-related work at Katara Hills police station, played a key role in recovering the compromised account.
SHO Dube also said that police are investigating the identity of the persons who allegedly impersonated the university’s CMD and attempted to facilitate the transaction.
–IANS
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