A man has been arrested in Maharashtra for allegedly creating a fake email ID in the name of the owner of a private company in Calcutta and sending an email to a senior executive of the firm asking him to transfer money to a particular account.
Later, when the payment was made, the company officials realised that the direction to transfer the money was sent through a fraudulent email. The server used for sending the mail was found to be in China and the sender’s location was in Maharashtra, police said.
Officers said the alleged mastermind had been tracked down and arrested in Maharashtra.
The city police received a complaint on December 6 from a senior executive of a wealth-management company in Calcutta, alleging that he had received a fraudulent email, from an ID created in the name of his employer, that instructed him to deposit Rs 35,150 online in a particular account.
“Thinking that it was an instruction from his boss, the man transferred the amount. By the time the payment was made, they realised the boss had never sent that email. The mail turned out to be a fraudulent one,” said an officer in the cybercrime cell of Calcutta police.
“During the investigation, it was found that the fake email ID was created using an email server in China.”
Cops said they tracked the digital imprints left in the online transaction and the internet server which was used to send the mail and zeroed in on a person who was running the operation from Nala Sopara in Maharashtra.
A team from Calcutta police raided a location in Nala Sopara and arrested Rihan Amir Khan, 36, for allegedly running the racket.
The police said 55 mobile phones, one Apple tablet, 112 ATM cards, a large number of bank documents, chequebooks and routers were seized.
The seized items include the ATM cards using which the money that had been cheated out of the executive was withdrawn, the police said.
“More people could be involved in the racket,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
The accused will be brought to Calcutta on a transit remand.