Surat Cybercrime Police have arrested a 26-year-old man from Haryana for his alleged role in a Rs 40 lakh WhatsApp-based fraud in which cybercriminals impersonated a company owner and induced an employee to transfer money from the company’s bank account.
The accused, Naveen Jaat, a resident of Gorakhpur village in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, was arrested after a technical investigation, police said. The case involved a malicious ZIP file, a fake WhatsApp profile and bank accounts allegedly arranged to route proceeds from cybercrime.
DCP (Cybercrime) Bishakha Jain told the Times of India that the complainant had received a ZIP file containing a malicious electronic script from an unknown mobile number. The fraudster then allegedly created a fake WhatsApp profile using the complainant’s photograph and contacted the company’s accounts department while posing as its owner.
After obtaining information about the company’s bank balance, the fraudster allegedly persuaded the accountant to transfer Rs 40 lakh from the company’s IndusInd Bank account. The incident highlights how access to basic financial information, combined with impersonation through messaging platforms, can be used to target business accounts.
Police said their investigation found that Jaat allegedly arranged bank accounts for use in cyber fraud. Investigators also alleged that he had earlier lured another accused, 21-year-old Amit Subhash, with the promise of sending him to Dubai and had firms registered in Subhash’s name. Bank accounts were subsequently opened in the names of those firms and allegedly used to route cybercrime proceeds.
According to Jain, Jaat allegedly obtained three bank accounts by paying a commission of Rs 5,000 and later handed them over to an absconding accused for use in cyber fraud in return for a commission of Rs 40,000. Police said transactions totalling Rs 53.06 lakh were carried out through the IndusInd Bank current account used in the crime between April 8 and May 24, 2026.
The police said Rs 18.5 lakh had been refunded to the complainant so far. During the investigation, officers also found details of seven bank accounts from different banks on Jaat’s mobile phone.
Verification through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal found that one of those accounts was linked to another Boss Scam complaint involving Rs 87.6 lakh in Maharashtra, police said. The investigation remains focused on the alleged account network and the absconding accused identified in the case.
