Cyber fraudster impersonates Coimbatore corporation commissioner to target civic officials | Coimbatore News
COIMBATORE: A cyber fraudster impersonated Coimbatore corporation commissioner Katta Ravi Teja to target civic officials, prompting the civic body to alert its employees and lodge a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.The incident came to light after a corporation official received a WhatsApp message carrying the commissioner’s profile picture. The sender claimed to be facing problems with an online bank transfer and asked the official to transfer Rs 50,000, assuring that the amount would be reimbursed once the banking issue was resolved. The sender directed the official to transfer the money to an account associated with “Mizoram Rural Bank.SBI” and subsequently share a screenshot of the transaction.Suspecting that the message was fraudulent, the official immediately informed the corporation commissioner about it.The commissioner said he came to know about the incident on Friday night and found that a similar message had also been sent to another corporation official. “Further inquiries revealed that the number used to send the messages appeared to be associated with Thailand. We immediately alerted all officials not to respond to such messages or transfer any money,” the commissioner said.The corporation filed an online complaint through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on Saturday morning.The commissioner has appealed to the public, corporation employees and other stakeholders to remain vigilant against such impersonation-based cyber scams and verify suspicious requests before making any financial transactions.He urged anyone receiving similar fraudulent messages using his identity to report them immediately through the govt’s Sanchar Saathi portal at https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/sfc/.
