Panchkula firm duped of Rs 3.16 crore in 'zip file' scam by fraudsters posing as boss
Police freeze Rs 1.5 crore; raids underway in Mohali, Delhi and other locations from where cash had been withdrawn through ATMs
A construction company in Panchkula has been duped of Rs 3.16 crore after a fake ZIP file allegedly compromised its WhatsApp account, allowing fraudsters to pose as company owner Vijay Chilana and persuade the accountant to transfer funds to multiple bank accounts.
Police have already put almost Rs 1.5 crore, around 50 per cent of the duped amount, on hold in various bank accounts after acting on the complaint, DCP Crime and Traffic Amrinder Singh told The Tribune.
According to a copy of the FIR registered at the Cyber Crime police station, Sector 20, Panchkula, on August 8 and accessed by The Tribune on Monday, the fraud took place between 11.12 am on August 6 and midnight on August 7. The case has been registered under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The complaint was filed by Disha, wife of Vijay Chilana, one of four partners of R.S. Construction, a firm executing government contracts for the construction of railway bridges. The firm has its head office in Jind and a branch office in Swastik Vihar, MDC, Sector 5, Panchkula. Its ongoing projects include sites in Odisha, Kolkata and Jharkhand.
According to the FIR, the company regularly dealt with Shree Shyamjee Steel in Odisha for steel supplies. On August 6, a ZIP file named “08.05 statements of account.zip” was received on the company’s WhatsApp number from a number being used in the name of the steel supplier. The company accountant, Ekta, downloaded and opened the file, which appeared blank.
The following day, a message was received on the company laptop from another number. The WhatsApp chat contained earlier conversations from Chilana’s genuine number. Since he used multiple mobile numbers, the accountant believed the messages were from her employer.
The person posing as Chilana first asked her to check the balances of the company’s bank accounts and then directed her to transfer funds to specified accounts.
The FIR states that Rs 80 lakh and Rs 30 lakh were transferred from the firm’s Yes Bank account to accounts held in the names of Punapureddi Pakashastralu Private Limited and Taiba Footwear. Two further transfers of Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.06 crore were made from an HDFC Bank account to accounts in the names of Sushil Gajanan Kolkar and Integrated Women Development Society Radhapuram. The four transfers totalled Rs 3.16 crore.
A further instruction to transfer Rs 60 lakh was stopped after Chilana called the office from his genuine number, having received transaction alerts, and directed the accountant not to make any more payments.
Police have now launched a search for the beneficiaries and those behind the fraud. DCP Singh said raids were being conducted in Mohali, Delhi and other locations from where cash had been withdrawn through ATMs.
“Around 95 per cent of the duped money had been channelised to southern states, mainly Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” he said. “Police teams have been constituted and raids in these states will be conducted shortly,” he revealed.
The complainant alleged that the office laptop and WhatsApp had been compromised, the owner’s chat history had been transplanted and the ZIP file had been sent with fraudulent intent. She also sought an investigation into how such large transactions were allowed from the company’s credit accounts and the recovery of the money.
“The investigation has been taken up on priority. We are working on different theories to crack the case shortly,” the DCP said.
The FIR names no suspects, and the case has been registered against unknown persons. The complainant, her family members and the accountant appeared before the Cyber Crime police and recorded their statements.
