'Impersonating myself to me': Paytm CEO shares scam attempt by fraudster demanding company funds

Despite the potentially serious nature of the scam, no harm was caused.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Paytm, on Wednesday revealed a bizarre but humorous encounter with a scamster who attempted to impersonate him in an apparent phishing attempt targeting the company’s financial information.

Titled “Impersonating myself to me”, Sharma took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a series of WhatsApp messages in which the fraudster introduced himself as “Vijay Shekhar Sharma” and asked the real Sharma to save his “new phone number”. The attempted deception left internet users amused, while also underscoring the increasing sophistication of cyber fraud and impersonation tactics, which have become a growing concern even for prominent industry leaders.

In the messages shared publicly, the impersonator requested that Sharma “check and report back” on the company’s available funds. The fraudster further demanded the contact details of Paytm’s finance head and asked him to forward an executable (.exe) file, disguised as a GST-related document, to the concerned person.

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Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) May 21, 2025

Despite the potentially serious nature of the scam, no harm was caused. Sharma appeared to take the incident in stride, choosing instead to spotlight it with a dose of humour. By doing so, he not only drew attention to the pervasiveness of such frauds but also emphasised that even CEOs are not immune to digital trickery involving fake profiles, malicious links, and social engineering.

The timing of Sharma’s post coincided with a significant announcement by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which introduced a new cybersecurity initiative to curb such fraudulent activities. On Wednesday, the DoT launched the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) — a tool designed to enable advanced intelligence sharing among banks, UPI service providers, and financial institutions to counter financial fraud.

In an official release, the department stated: “The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced sharing of the ‘Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)’ with stakeholders — an output from a multi-dimensional analytical tool developed as part of the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) to empower financial institutions with advance actionable intelligence for cyber fraud prevention.”

According to the DoT, the FRI will facilitate enhanced cyber protection and perform validation checks in instances where a digital payment is proposed to a mobile number flagged by the tool. “FRI allows for swift, targeted, and collaborative action against suspected frauds in both telecom and financial domains,” the release said.

The government’s move came amid a broader push across the telecom sector to clamp down on rising cybercrime. Earlier this month, telecom giant Airtel announced the rollout of a real-time fraud detection solution aimed at identifying and blocking malicious websites across all communication Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms. The service, currently active in the Haryana telecom circle, covers platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and email, with a nationwide rollout planned in the near future.