Online scammers impersonate one more Nilgiris official

Online scammers have once again tried to defraud the public by impersonating yet another government official from the Nilgiris district. A fake email address, created to impersonate M. Balaji, the Executive Director of Tea Board India, Coonoor, was discovered recently.

A similar attempt was made a few days ago by creating a fake email id of the Nilgiris District Collector J. Innocent Divya, and mails were sent to district administration officials to purchase gift cards from online retailers.

In a press release, the Tea Board said that a fake email address –

chiefexecutive191@gmail.com had been created in the name of Mr. Balaji, an IAS officer.

By impersonating him, the scammers had tried to get money from the members of the tea industry and the public. Based on a complaint, the Nilgiris district police registered a case and were investigating.

“It is appealed to the public and all stakeholders of the tea industry to not act upon any such fake email IDs in the future,” the release said, adding that anyone who received such emails could bring it to the knowledge of the Board.