Billionaire Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry's, 62-year-old daughter Laila Rustom Jehangir has been duped of Rs 90,000 from her bank account by an unidentified cyber fraudster. The money was stolen between June and July. Pallonji Mistry owns one of the biggest business conglomerates Shapoorji Pallonji group.
The incident came to light in July when Jayesh Merchant (60), Mistry-led company's deputy general manager (accounts), received messages about the withdrawal of the amount from the bank account on his mobile phone, the official said.
An FIR has been registered at Colaba police station in connection with cyber fraud.
The bank account belongs to Laila Rustom Jehangir, one of the two daughters of Mistry who lives in Dubai. The account was managed by her father on her behalf which was authorized by Laila herself, said officials.
In 2018, Mistry had authorized his company's director Firoz Bhatena to oversee financial activities in the account. Bhatena, in turn, had entrusted the task to Merchant, he said. Bhatena, in turn, had entrusted the account to the company’s Deputy General Manager (accounts) 60-year-old Jayesh Merchant.
All transactions were done only through cheques. As the account was quite old, no credit or debit card was linked to the account. But Mercent used to receive message alerts about the transactions, added Colaba police official.
Also Read: Tesla , the Luxury car company is setting its research and development centre in India
“Jayesh Merchant, who registered the complaint, said that on July 1 and 2 he received SMS alerts of withdrawal of money from the account of Laila. When he checked with the bank he was informed that around Rs 90,000 were spent or withdrawn in multiple transactions using a debit card in June/July months.” A copy of Merchant’s complaint is with an eminent news agency.
"Merchant, who told the bank manager that there was no debit card issued on this account, was in for a shock when he was informed that a debit card was issued in the name of company director Bhatena in 2018, and the card was couriered to the company’s Colaba office. The same debit card was used to withdraw money. Merchant told Bhatena about the development who told him that he was not aware of any debit card being issued, following which a complaint was given,” the police officer also added.
The card was used many times, once at one Lucky Restaurant, and once at a cake shop, New Arife Lamoulde, police findings say. CCTV cameras will be checked at these places and also police to make inquiries to trace the card user.
Under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act against an unidentified suspect, an FIR has been lodged.