Cyber criminals impersonating Jana Sena MP from Kakinada parliamentary constituency Tangella Uday Srinivas duped his company’s chief finance manager into transferring Rs 92 lakh to various bank accounts.
According to the complaint registered by the Kakinada cybercrime police, Gangishetty Srinivas Rao, Chief Finance Manager at “Tea Time,” a chain of tea shops owned by Uday Srinivas across Andhra Pradesh, received WhatsApp messages on August 22 from a new phone number.
The phone number had the profile picture bore Uday Srinivas and the manager was asked to send money from the company account to a specific bank as he was need of some cash. The message said the MP had changed the phone number.
Since the number had the MP’s photograph as profile pic, Gangishetty believed the messages to be genuine.
He responded to urgent requests for money and, without bothering to making additional verification, he made eleven transfers totalling Rs 92 lakh to different accounts.
The deception came to light on September 8 when the MP, while reviewing his accounts, noticed suspicious transactions.
On being asked, the MP clarified that he had not changed his phone number nor had he sent any money-related messages.
The manager was stunned and realized he had been a victim of cyber fraud and filed a complaint with cybercrime police.
The cops swung into action immediately, but it led to freezing only Rs 7 lakh because the complaint was filed nearly two weeks after the initial transfer.
