Conmen posing as BSF officials dupe Bengaluru firm of ₹26 lakh in fake purchase order scam

Posing as Border Security Force (BSF) officials, conmen duped a Bengaluru-based firm of over ₹26 lakh by issuing a fake purchase order.

Posing as Border Security Force (BSF) officials, conmen duped a Bengaluru-based firm of over ₹26 lakh by issuing a fake purchase order.

The firm , which imports and supplies hard plastic cases across India — including to defence organisations — received an enquiry on March 9 from a person identifying himself as Akshay Kumar, who claimed to be from the BSF Yelahanka purchase department.

The accused allegedly issued a purchase order on March 11, following which the firm shared a proforma invoice seeking a 50% advance payment. Subsequently, another person, identifying himself as Kuldeep Singh from the accounts department, contacted the complainant and stated that the payment would be processed as per the Indian Army procedure.

Under this pretext, the accused instructed the complainant to make multiple bank transfers. They first carried out small “verification” transactions of ₹10, with one amount being returned as ₹20 to win the victim’s confidence. Subsequently, on March 21, the complainant was induced to transfer larger sums to multiple bank accounts.

The funds were transferred to accounts held in the names of Krishna Sharma, Suman Kumari Prasad, Atul Goutham, and Sudheer Singh, through RTGS, NEFT, and IMPS transactions. In one instance, an amount of ₹4.48 lakh was briefly returned, further convincing the complainant of the transaction’s authenticity.

In total, ₹26,22,391 was fraudulently transferred before the accused disconnected communication, promising that the payment would be credited shortly, according to the police.