Thrissur: A man belonging to Kodungallur has been arrested for defrauding the Qatar museum of a whopping Rs 5.20 crore. Sunil Menon (47) had used an app to send a fake mail in the name of the Qatari royal family to the museum asking it to transfer the money.
Sunil managed to send the email purportedly from the royal family to the Qatar museum department saying that a US firm named Jerome Napoleon had been given the task of creating a painting of the Qatar ruler in gold. He said the contract amounted to Rs 10.20 crore and the advance of Rs 5.20 crore had to be transferred immediately.
Though the amount was transferred, the museum department soon realized that it was a scam. An investigation was launched, which led to Sunil’s arrest. His email had said that Jerome Napoleon would create ten paintings. The finance officials at Qatar museum had no suspicion as the mail had come from the royal family. But when the American company was later contacted by email, there was no response.
IT experts in Qatar realized that a fraud had been committed and launched an investigation. They traced the money to a bank account in Kodungallur. A Keralite official attached to Qatar IT department soon reached Kodungallur and filed an official complaint with the police. It was also revealed that Sunil was the holder of the account into which the money had been deposited.
The modus operandi
Sunil Menon, a native of Kodungallur, worked as an auditor in Qatar for several years. Sometime later, he returned to Kerala and started some online business ventures. But all of them ran into losses. He was also engaged in selling antiques and paintings.
Sunil had a wide friends’ circle in Kuwait. With the help of some of his friends, Sunil obtained the email ID of the officials in Qatar museum as well as the royal family. A fake email ID of Jerome Napoleon was also created.
An app that enabled the fraud
Usually, to send an unauthorized email in the name of an institution, the email has to be hacked. However, Sunil found an easy way out. He used an app which could send mails in the name of any ID. With the app, Sunil sent a mail ostensibly from the royal family to the museum. He also created a fake ID of the American company. Mails were exchanged between these IDs and Sunil succeeded in getting the money transferred to his account.
How the money was spent
Around Rs 4.50 crore of the Rs 5.20 crore transferred to Sunil’s account was deposited in several banks. Sunil bought a new jeep worth Rs 23 lakh and loaned Rs 12 lakh to relatives.
After the police received the complaint against him, the deposits amounting to Rs 4.50 crore were frozen. Sunil was soon arrested and interrogated. The mystery being solved, Sunil is all set to spend time in jail for the economic offense.Thrissur: A man belonging to Kodungallur has been arrested for defrauding the Qatar museum of a whopping Rs 5.20 crore. Sunil Menon (47) had used an app to send a fake mail in the name of the Qatari royal family to the museum asking it to transfer the money.
Sunil managed to send the email purportedly from the royal family to the Qatar museum department saying that a US firm named Jerome Napoleon had been given the task of creating a painting of the Qatar ruler in gold. He said the contract amounted to Rs 10.20 crore and the advance of Rs 5.20 crore had to be transferred immediately.
Though the amount was transferred, the museum department soon realized that it was a scam. An investigation was launched, which led to Sunil’s arrest. His email had said that Jerome Napoleon would create ten paintings. The finance officials at Qatar museum had no suspicion as the mail had come from the royal family. But when the American company was later contacted by email, there was no response.
IT experts in Qatar realized that a fraud had been committed and launched an investigation. They traced the money to a bank account in Kodungallur. A Keralite official attached to Qatar IT department soon reached Kodungallur and filed an official complaint with the police. It was also revealed that Sunil was the holder of the account into which the money had been deposited.
The modus operandi
Sunil Menon, a native of Kodungallur, worked as an auditor in Qatar for several years. Sometime later, he returned to Kerala and started some online business ventures. But all of them ran into losses. He was also engaged in selling antiques and paintings.
Sunil had a wide friends’ circle in Kuwait. With the help of some of his friends, Sunil obtained the email ID of the officials in Qatar museum as well as the royal family. A fake email ID of Jerome Napoleon was also created.
An app that enabled the fraud
Usually, to send an unauthorized email in the name of an institution, the email has to be hacked. However, Sunil found an easy way out. He used an app which could send mails in the name of any ID. With the app, Sunil sent a mail ostensibly from the royal family to the museum. He also created a fake ID of the American company. Mails were exchanged between these IDs and Sunil succeeded in getting the money transferred to his account.
How the money was spent
Around Rs 4.50 crore of the Rs 5.20 crore transferred to Sunil’s account was deposited in several banks. Sunil bought a new jeep worth Rs 23 lakh and loaned Rs 12 lakh to relatives.
After the police received the complaint against him, the deposits amounting to Rs 4.50 crore were frozen. Sunil was soon arrested and interrogated. The mystery being solved, Sunil is all set to spend time in jail for the economic offense.
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