Some fraudsters have recently duped vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) of more than Rs 1 crore by sending messages in the name of its CEO Adar Poonawalla and asking to transfer money, news agency PTI quoted Pune Police as saying. Speaking to the news ageny, an official of Bundgarden police station said that the incident unfolded between the afternoons of Wednesday and Thursday.
According to reports, a First Information Report (FIR) for cheating and offences under the Information Technology Act has been registered against unidentified persons.
As per the FIR, the fraudsters even sent a WhatsApp message to one of the Directors of SII Satish Deshpande, posing as Adar Poonawalla and asked to transfer money to certain bank accounts immediately.
Company officials transferred a massive sum of Rs 1,01,01,554 online believing that it was the CEO who had messaged. However, later they realised that Poonawalla had never sought for the money via WhatsApp message.
The matter came to light when an FIR was resistered on the complaint of company’s finance manager. Police have said that the matter is under investigation. There has been no official reaction from the company, Poonawalla or other officials on the issues.
With its headquarters and manifacturing plant in Pune, SII is one of India’s leading vaccine makers which was first firm to develop Covishield vaccine against Coronavirus. The company has now successfully development many other Covid-19 vaccines.
(This is a developing story. More details awaited.)