Fraudsters dupe Serum Institute of India of Rs 1 crore online

Seven suspects from across the country, including a software engineer and a bank officer, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in cheating Serum Institute of India (SII) of Rs 1 crore through a cyber fraud.

According to police, the fraudsters sent SII director Satish Deshpande a WhatsApp message from a number with a profile photo of chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla, with instructions to transfer the money to some bank accounts.

Deshpande believed the message was actually forwarded to him by Poonawalla. So, he carried out the transaction and soon, an amount of Rs 1,01,01,554 was transferred from the SII’s bank account to those bank accounts.