Paytm's vijay shekhar sharma scammed... By himself? Viral chat reveals impersonation attempt

PAYTM FOUNDER VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA SHARED A SCREENSHOT OF A HUMOROUS EXCHANGE WITH A SCAMMER WHO WAS IMPERSONATING HIM TO CHECK ON THE COMPANY'S FUNDS. New Delhi: Vijay Shekhar Sharma,

the founder and CEO of Paytm, recently shared a lighthearted exchange on X involving a scammer who impersonated him in an attempt to extract sensitive financial information from the company.

In a post titled "Impersonating Myself to Me," Sharma revealed a series of WhatsApp messages where the fraudster introduced himself as Sharma and asked the real CEO to save his

"new" phone number. The amusing encounter had many netizens in stitches, while also highlighting a more serious issue in the digital landscape—naive individuals falling prey to

scammers who use sophisticated tactics, fake profiles, and malicious links for impersonation. In one message, the scammer pressed Sharma to verify and report back on the company’s available

funds. The impersonator even demanded that Sharma share contact details of the finance head and went as far as to ask him to forward a dubious .exe file disguised as a GST document to the

finance executive. Playing along with the scheme, Sharma cheekily suggested that the impersonator should consider a salary hike. In a noteworthy development, the Telecom Department announced

the launch of the 'Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)' on Wednesday. This initiative aims to enhance intelligence sharing among banks, UPI service providers, and financial

institutions, making it a vital step in combating cyber fraud and financial crime. According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the FRI will strengthen cyber protection and

validation checks for flagged mobile numbers when digital payments are attempted. The FRI facilitates swift, targeted action against suspected fraud in both the telecom and financial

sectors, according to an official release. Furthermore, the DoT mentioned that this tool is part of a broader Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), empowering financial institutions with

actionable intelligence to prevent cyber fraud. Notably, earlier this month, Airtel introduced a fraud detection solution designed to identify and block malicious websites across various

Over-The-Top (OTT) communication platforms, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and email, in real time. This service is currently operational in the Haryana circle, with a

nationwide rollout on the horizon. _ALSO READ: ALCATEL TEASES V3 PRO, V3 CLASSIC AHEAD OF THEIR LAUNCH ON MAY 27: WHAT TO EXPECT_