Man impersonates bizwoman on WhatsApp; cheats her colleagues

A man posed as a businesswoman and collected money from her colleagues and employees stating that her mother needed emergency treatment.

The East Cyber Crime, Economic Offences & Narcotics (CEN) police arrested Shameer Kumar Sha, a Darjeeling native and resident of Gayatri Layout in KR Puram, who stole data from a private firm when he went there for an interview and used it to commit the fraud.

Police nabbed Sha while investigating a case filed by Manjula (33), a resident of Doopanahalli in Indiranagar.

Manjula, who owns a chain of garment stores in the city, stated in her complaint that some unknown people have used her photograph as WhatsApp DP, sent messages and made calls to many of her colleagues and employees asking for money.

CEN police said Manjula learnt about the fraud when one of her colleagues paid Rs 4,500 from her Paytm account to the account used by Sha impersonating as Manjula.

During the interrogation, police found that Sha came to the city in January in search of a job but was unsuccessful in his job hunt. He went for an interview to Manjula’s office where he was rejected.

Even as he applied for jobs elsewhere, he went through the website of Manjula’s company and secured access to the mobile number of employees, including Manjula, which were displayed on the site.

Sha later bought several SIM Cards, downloaded WhatsApp and sent messages to the employees. He used Manjula’s name and photo in one of the numbers. Sha had already taken money from several of the employees. If a person wanted to know who he was or told him they did not have money, he would block them immediately.