Gurgaon: How are you, Singh? Can you arrange 20 Google Play recharge cards worth Rs 5,000 each? It’s urgent. I am at a crucial meeting with limited phone calls. I will reimburse the money by the end of the day,” read a WhatsApp message on Mandeep Singh’s phone.
The number was unknown, but not the display picture. The executive engineer in the Gurgaon municipal corporation double-checked. Yes, it was very much the photo of his boss — municipal commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja. The number, he thought, was the senior official’s personal.
Just as Singh was about to buy the recharge cards, he thought it imperative to check with Ahuja’s personal assistant if the municipal commissioner was indeed in need of money. What struck him as abnormal was the insistence on Google Play cards and not direct cash transfer to a bank account.
That’s when the veil was lifted off the scam. Ahuja’s assistant confirmed the WhatsApp number was not the municipal commissioner’s. Just to be sure, Singh called up Ahuja to ask if he had indeed sent the message. His boss was shocked, so was he.
“All of us had heard of online frauds. None of us could imagine that fraudsters could now use this technique,” Singh told TOI.
The executive engineer later learnt that six of his colleagues had received the same message. Although a little hesitant to transfer the money instantly, none thought it could be a scam.
“I would have obliged to the message in some time. But fortunately, I came to know…
The number was unknown, but not the display picture. The executive engineer in the Gurgaon municipal corporation double-checked. Yes, it was very much the photo of his boss — municipal commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja. The number, he thought, was the senior official’s personal.
Just as Singh was about to buy the recharge cards, he thought it imperative to check with Ahuja’s personal assistant if the municipal commissioner was indeed in need of money. What struck him as abnormal was the insistence on Google Play cards and not direct cash transfer to a bank account.
That’s when the veil was lifted off the scam. Ahuja’s assistant confirmed the WhatsApp number was not the municipal commissioner’s. Just to be sure, Singh called up Ahuja to ask if he had indeed sent the message. His boss was shocked, so was he.
“All of us had heard of online frauds. None of us could imagine that fraudsters could now use this technique,” Singh told TOI.
The executive engineer later learnt that six of his colleagues had received the same message. Although a little hesitant to transfer the money instantly, none thought it could be a scam.
“I would have obliged to the message in some time. But fortunately, I came to know…
