Pune Real Estate Developer Falls Victim to Rs 4 Crore Whale Phishing Scam – Biggest Cybercrime as per Pune Police

Recently, a Pune-based real estate developer got scammed of Rs 4 crore in a whale phishing scam.
This scam is said to be the biggest cyber crime as per the Pune Police.
The fraudster posed as the Chairman and Managing director (CMD) of the company and tricked the senior accounts officer into making transfers to the scammer’s account through over 18 transactions in a week. The victim realised the scam when the actual CMD returned from foreign country and said that no such transactions were issued by him.
While phishing is also known as CEO fraud. It targets individuals with high-profile in an organization who have access to sensitive information or finances of the organisation. The fraudsters pose as CEO of the Company and manipulate the victims into revealing the confidential data or approving transactions worth lakhs or crores.

One such incident took place with a drug manufacturing giant who lost Rs 1 crore in this scam.
Additionally, half a dozen whale phishing crimes have been reported since July 2023 in Pune through which organizations have lost huge amounts of revenue.
Some arrests have been made connected to the crime, but the mastermind behind these crimes is yet to be caught.

The only way to not to fall prey to these crimes is by staying safe by taking precautions such as:
•Verifying any unusual request via other channels
•Do not click on suspicious links or attachments as it may lead to leaking of personal information or bank information.
•Report suspicious communication to IT team immediately