A homemaker has complained that her family had been duped out of Rs 21,000, which they had transferred to a man to book a villa in a city resort for a weekend outing.
The woman said she had come in contact with the man by calling a number that an acquaintance gave her.
Sosan Alam, a resident of Beniapukur, told Metro on Sunday that she and her family had planned an outing over the weekend and tried to book a villa in a resort.
“We got a number from an acquaintance, which we were told to call to book a villa in the resort. I called the number and a man who answered the call asked me to make an advance payment. I transferred around Rs 10,000 and my cousin sent another Rs 11,000. We were assured that a confirmation mail would be sent,” Alam said.
The confirmation mail did not come. Instead, the family was told by the man that they should go directly to the villa, which would be kept ready for them.
On Saturday, as the family started for the weekend trip, Alam made multiple calls to the phone number but the phone was switched off.
“We tried to contact the person in whose account we had transferred the money. We also tried to contact the person from whom we got the number. But both phones were switched off. We realised that we have been cheated,” said the complainant.
The woman said it was apparent that they were victims of an “organised racket”.
“It is clear that these people are members of an organised racket. I am not sure whether the acquaintance who gave us the number is involved in it. It could also be that he got the number from somewhere else. We have informed everything to the police,” said Alam.
A complaint was lodged with Beniapukur police station on Saturday.
An officer of the police station said the matter has been referred to the cybercrime cell of the southeast division of Calcutta police.
A number of Calcuttans were cheated in recent past when they tried to book hotel by calling numbers that they got from friends or are available on the internet.
Many who search for phone numbers of hotels or resorts on the internet often fall victim to fraudsters. The police said fraudsters inserted their numbers as that of hotels and resorts by manipulating search engines.