A doctor who lives in Golf Green has allegedly been duped out of Rs 4.7 lakh by fraudulent callers who posed as CESC officials and asked him to pay his pending electricity bill through a link they sent.
Tracing the route through which the swindled money was transferred, police zeroed in on an e-wallet attached to an account of a gaming app that gave away the identity of those involved. Three men have been arrested.
“The busy doctor barely had time to think and act cautiously. The fraudsters talked convincingly posing as CESC officials. When the doctor insisted that the electricity bill was usually deducted from his account, the fraudsters bluffed him saying there was some issue with deduction from his account. They sent him a link asking him to download an app, which he did,” said deputy commissioner (cyber crime) Atul V.
The fraudsters apparently gained access to the doctor’s device once he downloaded the app, the police said.
The alleged fraud happened in December last year.
The police on Thursday said that immediately after the call was disconnected, the doctor received two text messages.
One informed him that Rs 1.81 lakh had been debited from his bank account. The other said Rs 2.92 lakh had been debited.
The doctor realised he had been duped and approached the police.
During the investigation, the police found that the money was transferred to two e-wallets, which were attached to separate gaming app accounts.
“One of the gaming accounts, where Rs 1.81 lakh was transferred, was found to be attached to a bank account that helped us reach the fraudsters,” said a police officer.
Some gaming apps involve financial transactions for which bank accounts are directly linked.
An officer said that in several cases of online frauds, the swindled money was found to have been transferred through gaming apps.
“This money can either be transferred to the bank account to which the gaming account is linked or it can be used further for playing on the gaming apps,” said the officer.
The police identified the arrested as Tarun Khandelwal, 32, his relative Rohit Khandelwal, 31, and Rajesh Sharma, 32.
All three accused are residents of Baguiati.
The three said the Covid pandemic had left them unemployed, an officer of the cyber cell in Lalbazar said. “The claim is yet to be verified,” he said.
The accused were produced in court on Thursday and remanded in police custody till February 19.