Mumbai: The Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune has become the latest target of cyber fraudsters who reportedly duped the vaccine-maker of more than Rs 1 crore by sending messages in the name of its Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla and asking for the transfer of money.
News agency PTI quoting Pune Police on Saturday said that the fraud took place between the afternoons of Wednesday and Thursday.
A First Information Report (FIR) for cheating and offences under the Information Technology Act has been registered against unidentified persons, said senior inspector Pratap Mankar.
According to to the FIR, Satish Deshpande, one of the directors of SII Pune, received WhatsApp messages from a person posing as Adar Poonawalla.
The finance manager of the firm said the complaint that the sender asked Deshpande to transfer money to certain bank accounts immediately and believing that it was the CEO’s message, company officials transferred Rs 1,01,01,554 online.
However, they later realized later that Poonawalla had never sent any such WhatsApp communication. An investigation into the matter was underway, said inspector Mankar.
