Nagpur, India: In a shocking cyber scam, an accountant from a well-known electronics store in Nagpur was tricked into transferring ₹1.95 crore. The fraudsters posed as the owner of NGRT System Pvt. Ltd., the company that runs the "Inspire" showroom in Civil Lines, selling high-end Apple products.

Mahesh Dabir (54), an accountant at the firm, received a call on December 30 from someone pretending to be Shantanu Gadre, one of the company's directors. The caller said he had changed his phone number and asked Dabir to share the company's bank balance. Dabir, trusting the caller, shared the information.

On January 2, Dabir received a WhatsApp message from the same number, asking him to transfer ₹1.95 crore to an account. Dabir, thinking it was an urgent request from his employer, transferred the money.

However, after the transfer, Dabir spoke with Pranoti Gadre, another director, and learned that the request was a scam. Pranoti confirmed that Shantanu hadn’t changed his phone number and no such request was made. Realizing the fraud, Dabir quickly reported it to the police.

Thanks to quick action by Pranoti Gadre and the Cyber Police, ₹1.20 crore was blocked. The fraudster had already withdrawn ₹75 lakh from the account before the police intervened. Authorities are now investigating the scam and trying to catch the criminals.