Ex-PM Gujral’s son duped of Rs 7.8 cr in cyber scam

New Delhi: Former Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral was allegedly duped of Rs 7.8 crore after cyber fraudsters impersonated him on a messaging app and tricked his company's chief financial officer into transferring funds to multiple bank accounts, police said on Thursday.

Naresh, 78, is the son of the late I K Gujral, who served as India's 12th PM. According to the police, the fraud occurred between June 12 and June 16. The scammers allegedly created an account on an online messaging platform using Gujral's display picture to impersonate him. They sent messages instructing one of his employees to transfer funds Gross Settlement (RTGS) to a specified bank account for what appeared to be urgent business-related purposes. Believing the instructions were legitimate, the employee, who had been given financial access by Gujral, executed four separate RTGS transactions over the course of four days, resulting in a loss of Rs 7.8 crore, the police said. The fraud was uncovered on June 16 when the transactions came to the attention of Gujral's daughter, who immediately verified the situation with her father and discovered that he had never issued any such directions.

Investigators said the money was first routed into four bank accounts in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, adding that between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore was transferred to these accounts each. The funds were subsequently distributed to around 30 to 40 accounts before being moved through multiple additional mule accounts in an apparent attempt to conceal the money trail, police said. Cyber investigators are now tracking the movement of funds and identifying the beneficiaries of the transactions. Speaking to PTI, Gujral said swift reporting of the fraud helped authorities freeze a substantial portion of the stolen amount.