NEW DELHI: Naresh Gujral, the former Rajya Sabha MP who is the son of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, was duped of Rs 7.8 crore in a cyber fraud. The scammers impersonated him on a messaging platform and manipulated his employee’s phone records to transfer the funds.Police have, so far, frozen Rs 4 crore of the stolen amount.The fraud happened between June 12 and June 16, when cybercriminals allegedly created a fake account on a messaging platform using Gujral’s display picture to pose as him. Investigators said the fraudsters then contacted an employee of Gujral’s company, sending urgent messages instructing multiple RTGS transfers for what appeared to be legitimate business requirements.
Believing that the instructions were authentic, the employee made four separate fund transfers, amounting to Rs 7.8 crore.According to police, the fraud initially went unnoticed as the transactions appeared to be part of routine business approvals. During the process, the bank flagged the unusually large transfers and sought clearance from the company’s CFO. The CFO reportedly approved the transactions, assuming they had been authorised by Gujral.The scam came to light on June 16 when a company official, sensing something unusual, reached out to Gujral’s daughter to verify the payments. She checked with her father and found that he had not issued any such instructions. Following this, the family lodged a complaint.Investigators found that the gang first sent a malicious file to one of the employees, compromising his mobile phone. Once they gained access, the accused allegedly tampered with the contact details stored in the device. The fraudsters replaced Gujral’s phone number in the employee’s contact list with their own number while retaining Gujral’s profile picture. This made all incoming messages from the fake number appear as if they were from Gujral.Gujral, who has a garment business, told TOI that his CFO unfortunately became the victim in his absence. “I compliment the cybercrime team of Delhi Police for acting swiftly and recovering almost 70% of the amount. More recovery is expected in the coming days,” he said.The stolen money was routed through four transactions into bank accounts in different states.Deputy commissioner of police (IFSO) Vinit Kumar added that “anyone asked to transfer money or share sensitive information should verify the request by calling the person.”
