Kolkata: A retail company in Kolkata has allegedly fallen victim to a ₹1.5 crore CEO impersonation cyber fraud, after fraudsters used the company’s Managing Director’s (MD) profile photo on WhatsApp to trick an accounts employee into making an urgent fund transfer.
According to police, an employee from the company’s accounts department received a WhatsApp message from an unknown mobile number displaying the Managing Director’s profile picture. The sender allegedly posed as the company’s MD and instructed the employee to urgently transfer funds to a specified bank account.
Believing the request to be genuine, the employee transferred ₹1.5 crore through RTGS to an ICICI Bank account. Preliminary investigation indicates that the account is linked to a private digital solutions company.
The fraud came to light the following day when the company’s actual Managing Director confirmed that no such payment instruction had been issued. Realizing they had been deceived, the company lodged a complaint at Girish Park Police Station.
The case is now under investigation by the Kolkata Police Cyber Cell. Investigators are examining the beneficiary bank account, the ultimate recipients of the funds, the company’s directors, and other individuals who may be connected to the alleged fraud. Police are also probing whether an organized cybercrime syndicate was behind the incident.
Police said a case has been registered under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Information Technology Act, 2000. Investigators are analysing banking transactions, digital evidence, and communication records in an effort to trace those responsible.
Cybercrime expert and former IPS officer Prof. Triveni Singh said that in CEO impersonation or Business Email/Message Compromise (BEC) scams, fraudsters exploit the identities of senior executives to pressure employees into making urgent financial transfers. He advised organisations to never rely solely on WhatsApp messages or emails for high-value transactions and to independently verify payment instructions by contacting the concerned executive through official communication channels. He added that implementing multi-level approval and payment verification procedures can significantly reduce the risk of such cyber fraud.
