Cyber Fraud Attempt Foiled at Rainbow Children's Hospital After CFO Spots Fake WhatsApp Message

Hyderabad - A cyber fraud attempt targeting Rainbow Children's Medicare Limited (RCML) was stopped in time after the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Vikas Maheshwari, noticed something suspicious.

The scam began on Thursday morning when the CFO received WhatsApp messages from an unknown number using the display picture of RCML's chairman, Dr Ramesh Kancharla. Posing as Dr Ramesh, the fraudster asked the CFO to urgently transfer ₹20 lakh to a bank account belonging to an electronics company. The account was with IndusInd Bank’s Kishoreganj branch in Ranchi.

The first message came in at 9:54 a.m. When the CFO was asked to make the payment quickly, he became cautious and tried to call the number around 1:17 p.m. Instead of picking up, the sender replied, “I am currently in a meeting with govt officials and it's not convenient to talk.”

“The tone of the message seemed off. I verified with Dr Ramesh and found out that he hadn’t sent any such message,” the CFO later said in a police complaint.

Thanks to his quick thinking, no money was transferred. A police case has been filed under Section 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (cheating by impersonation), and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act.

Police are now investigating to identify the person behind the fake message.