Kollam (Kerala) | Police have launched an investigation after a cyber fraudster attempted to cheat cops in this south Kerala district by impersonating the district police chief and seeking money through a bogus WhatsApp account, a police official said on Monday.

A case has been registered at the Kollam Cyber Police Station.

According to police sources, several officials in Kollam Rural Police received messages last week from a WhatsApp number, +9779702927435, which carried the profile picture of District Police Chief Vishu Pratheep TK in uniform.

"The impersonator initiated chats with police personnel and requested a transfer of Rs 40,000, citing an urgent requirement. However, alert officials, aware of similar cyber frauds reported across the state, immediately informed senior officers,” a police officer said.

Police officials said that no one lost money in the attempt.

The Social Media Monitoring Cell later alerted the Cyber Police Station, and a case was registered under the sections 318(4) (cheating) and 3(5) (committing crime with common intention) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) as well as sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using a computer resource or communication device) of the Information Technology Act, police sources said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the fraudster requested the transfer to a bank account in Songate, New Delhi. Police are tracing the account holder to check for links to other fraud cases.

Kerala has witnessed several similar scams in recent years, in which fraudsters have posed as senior police officers, bureaucrats, politicians, or businessmen.

In separate incidents, finance officers of two major firms in the state lost money after receiving fraudulent requests from impersonators posing as their managing directors, police added.