An Ahmedabad-based rice mill company lost Rs. 80 lakh after a cyber fraudster allegedly hacked an accountant’s phone and posed as the firm’s owner on WhatsApp. According to the police complaint, the scammer changed the owner’s saved contact details, used his photograph and sent payment instructions to the accountant.
The case involves a rice mill in Madhavnagar near Sanand. Business owner Pradip Ramvani filed a complaint after discovering that his accountant, Jayesh, transferred Rs. 80 lakh from the company account to a bank account named by the fraudster.
According to the complaint, Jayesh installed or accessed a file on his phone on August 31. Ramvani later suspected the file gave the attacker access to the device. Police are examining how the phone was compromised and whether the file contained malicious software.
Investigators believe the fraudster then changed Ramvani’s contact details on the accountant’s phone. The accused allegedly removed the genuine number and saved another number under Ramvani’s name. The scammer also used Ramvani’s photograph as the WhatsApp profile picture.
The altered contact made the incoming message appear familiar to the accountant. However, the number linked to the WhatsApp account did not belong to Ramvani, the complaint states.
The fraudster allegedly sent Jayesh a WhatsApp message while pretending to be Ramvani. The message asked the accountant to arrange Rs. 80 lakh for a business payment and transfer the money to a specified bank account.
Believing that the request came from his employer, Jayesh transferred Rs. 80 lakh from the factory’s account. Ramvani later told police that he did not send any such message and did not authorize the payment.
The fraud surfaced after the scammer allegedly asked for another Rs 30 lakh. The second demand raised suspicion, and Jayesh spoke to Ramvani in person about the earlier transfer. During that conversation, both men realized that the payment instruction came from an unknown number.
Jayesh then showed Ramvani the WhatsApp chat. Although the profile carried Ramvani’s photograph, the mobile number was different from his actual number. They checked the phone and found the file that was accessed days earlier.
After discovering the fraud, Ramvani and Jayesh contacted the cybercrime helpline and reported the matter. Ramvani then lodged a formal complaint with the Cyber Crime Department.
Police started tracing the unknown WhatsApp number and the bank account that received the Rs. 80 lakh transfer. Investigators are also checking the route used to access the accountant’s phone and whether the attacker controlled other parts of the device for evidence.
The case fits the pattern often described as a ‘boss scam,’ in which fraudsters impersonate company owners, senior managers or other trusted officials and ask employees to send money. In this case, the attacker allegedly used access to the accountant’s phone to make the fake request appear more credible.
Police have not identified the accused so far. The investigation remains underway, and officers are working to trace the person behind the WhatsApp account and the beneficiary account used in the transfer.