New Delhi . Amidst the rapidly increasing cyber crimes in the country, a case has come to light which has raised new concerns regarding digital security. A company linked to former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral’s son and former Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral has allegedly been made a victim of WhatsApp-based cyber fraud. In this case, the fraudsters took advantage of fake identity and trust and transferred a huge amount of about Rs 7.8 crore to their account.
According to preliminary information, cyber criminals carried out this fraud in a very well-planned manner. He used a mobile number whose profile picture was that of Naresh Gujral. This led a senior company official to believe that the messages were actually being sent from the top levels of the company. Taking advantage of this trust, the fraudsters started the process of transferring the money.
It is reported that first of all the officer received instructions to immediately send a large amount of money to a specified bank account. The profile picture and manner of conversation made the message credible, which led the officer to follow instructions. After the initial transaction, instructions to send new money kept coming for the next few days and the money kept being transferred by the company.
Investigation has revealed that this entire process was not done in one day, but was conducted in a phased manner over several days. Instead of showing haste, cyber fraudsters gradually established trust and on that basis were successful in obtaining huge amounts of money. In this type of fraud, criminals often attempt to exploit both institutional processes and human trust.
An important aspect of the case was that the bank became suspicious about the transfer of such a huge amount and contacted senior financial officers of the company. However, at the initial stage it was assumed that the instructions regarding payment had been given by the authorized person only. Due to this, the transactions continued and the amount of fraud kept increasing.
The incident took a turn when the officer concerned became suspicious about certain circumstances. He then contacted Naresh Gujral’s family and tried to confirm the payment instructions. From here it became clear that the messages on the basis of which the money was sent were not genuine. After this, a cyber crime complaint was immediately lodged and the investigating agencies were informed.
After the investigation began, a special police team investigated the bank accounts and financial transactions. Officials tracked the account to which the money was sent. During investigation, the fact came to light that a large part of the defrauded amount was still present in the concerned account. After this, taking action, about Rs 4 crore was traced and frozen, due to which the possibility of partial recovery of the amount has increased.
Experts believe that this case is not just a financial crime, but a serious signal to the security of digital identity. Today, cyber criminals are exploiting not only technical vulnerabilities but also people’s trust and institutional processes. This is why it is extremely important to verify any financial instructions through independent means and not to make decisions based solely on profile photos or messages.
