Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma gets scam texts from 'Vijay Shekhar Sharma'; says, 'Impersonating myself to me'

In a bizarre turn of events, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma became the target of a scam message—ironically, from someone pretending to be him. Sharma took to X to share a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation where the impersonator claimed to be “Vijay Shekhar Sharma” and asked Sharma, “Are you in the company now?” 

Sharma responded with disbelief, posting on X, “Impersonating myself to me.”

Impersonating myself to me 🥸 pic.twitter.com/OtT63fKZU1

— Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) May 21, 2025

But the interaction didn’t end there. In what turned into a surreal exchange, the scammer tried to extract internal company information by asking Sharma to check the company’s available funds and share a screenshot for review.

“Tum company ke accounts check karke batao ki company ke available funds kitney hey?” the message read.

Playing along, Sharma replied politely, claiming he wasn't part of the finance team and suggested the impersonator reach out directly. When the fraudster asked for the finance department’s number—citing a phone format issue as the reason for not having contacts—Sharma casually dropped a landline number and asked, “Aage kya karu?” (“What should I do next?”)

The scammer then attempted to send an .exe file titled “GSTSuvidha-Signed(7).exe,” asking Sharma to forward it to the finance head. “Usko ye GST file share karke bolo ki ye check kare,” the impersonator wrote. Sharma responded that the file didn’t open and was flagged as a Microsoft Windows application. When told that the finance department does not use Windows systems, the scammer grew frustrated. “Arwy pagal ye videos nahi hey ye file hey,” they wrote, accusing Sharma of acting like a broker and delaying the task.

Still playing along, Sharma replied with a dry wit, “सर मेरा सैलरी का देख लीजिए। हमारा अभी तक बढ़ा ही नहीं है 🙏🏻,” joking about his own salary not having increased. The scammer, still unaware of whom they were actually messaging, replied angrily, “Abhi taak tum mujhye wk number nahi dey aur tum mujhse expect karte ho ki tumhhari mey salary increase karduu.”

Netizens reaction

Sharma’s public post quickly went viral, triggering a wave of humorous responses online. While many joked about the confidence of the scammer, others pointed out the serious risks of such impersonation attempts, especially when targeting high-profile individuals.

😂😂 10/10 for confidence

— Sumit Gupta (CoinDCX) (@smtgpt) May 21, 2025

"he is also pretending to be busy sitting in meetings 😂 hadh ho gayi!" another wrote.

"Impersonating ka tarika thoda kesual hai," a third noted.