Scammers pose as Adar Poonawala, dupe Serum Institute of over Rs 1 crore

Pune: An FIR was launched against some unidentified persons for cheating the Serum Institute of India for more than Rs 1 crore, said the officials on Sunday.

The fraudsters duped the SII in the name of the institute’s CEO Adar Poonawala. The incident came to light only after a hefty amount of Rs. 1.1 crore was transferred by one of the directors, Satish Deshpande.

As per official records, the scamsters posed as Poonawala and sent WhatsApp messages to Deshpande and asked to transfer money to various bank accounts immediately.

Believing that messages are from Adar Poonawala more than Rs. 1,01, 01,554 crores was transferred to those accounts by the finance department in different transactions, only to belatedly realise that the SII was duped.

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“After realising that Adar Poonawala had never asked for such transfers or sent messages to the Finance Manager, SII made a written complaint in Bundgarden police station and later, police registered an FIR under the section of IPC 419, 420,34 and IT Act for probing the case further,” said Pune Police.

The transactions were made on 7 and 8 September this year.

Further investigations are underway.

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