Posing As Adar Poonawalla, Scammers Dupe Serum Institute Of ₹ 1 Crore, 7 Arrested
In a significant development, the Pune Police announced today that they had detained seven suspects in the case involving the theft of more than 1.01 crore from Serum Institute of India (SII).
According to the complaint, in September 2022, Satish Deshpande, a director at the Serum Institute of India (SII), received a message on WhatsApp from a person impersonating SII CEO Adar Poonawalla requesting money be sent to seven different accounts.
Satish Deshpande transferred 1.01 crore into those accounts under the impression that the message came from Adar Poonawala, only to discover later that the business had been defrauded.
In response to a complaint filed in this respect, police conducted an investigation and identified the eight accounts to which the funds were transferred.
“It has been made known that the money was deposited into the accounts of these seven individuals, who have since been detained around the nation. The primary accused, however, is still missing “said Smartana Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Zone II).
She continued by saying that they had confiscated all of these accounts in addition to another 40 accounts into which these eight accounts’ cash had been transferred.
“We have also frozen ₹ 13 lakh in these accounts,” she said.
The Cyber Unit of Pune City police on Friday arrested 3 accused involved in the case.
“The Cyber Unit of Pune City police has arrested 3 accused involved in the case relating to cheating Serum Institute of India posing as CEO Adar Poonawalla. A total of 7 accused arrested till now. The main accused remains missing,” said the police.
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