The police are investigating the foreign links of Sunil Menon (47), who hacked the email ID of a Qatar royal family member to dupe the Qatar Museum of a sum of ₹5.2 crore. Mr. Menon from Kodungallur who had been working in various countries, including Qatar, for more than a decade, offered to provide gold and copper plated portraits of Qatar Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani by famous artists.
According to the police, he hacked the email ID of Amir’s sister, who is also the head of the Qatar Museum Authority.
10 portraits
Using this ID, Mr. Menon sent a letter to the museum saying that an agreement had been signed with Jerome Napoleon of an American online business agency to make 10 portraits of Amir for the museum.
The letter asked the museum authorities to transfer ₹5.20 crore to Jerome Napoleon as advance payment.
The museum’s financial analysis unit, which got suspicious about the transaction and content of the email, later realised that Mr. Menon created a fake email ID in the name of Jerome Napoleon. Shafeeq, an employee of the financial analysis unit, who hails from Kozhikode, lodged a complaint with Thrissur Rural SP.
The police arrested Mr. Menon from Kochi on Wednesday while he was trying to flee the country.
Meanwhile, it is reported that members of the Qatar royal family may reach Kerala to meet Mr. Menon.
