A bank official who lost Rs 94,000 while purchasing tickets for the India-South Africa match at the Eden Gardens on November 5, got back the entire amount two days before India clashed with Australia in the cricket World Cup final.
Police said the amount was recovered from Ronie Ghosh, 22, a resident of Malda, who was arrested on November 7.
Several police officers said recovery of money — whatever be the amount — lost to online cheats and in other “white collar crimes” are relatively rare.
“I received a call from the city police headquarters at Lalbazar and was told that the money that I had lost had been recovered. I have been handed over the money,” Soumyajyoti Banerjee told The Telegraph on Sunday.
This newspaper reported on November 1 and 2 how tickets for the India-South Africa cricket match at the Eden Gardens, which were available neither online nor offline, were being sold at a premium through social media.
Ghosh was tracked down as one of those who were allegedly making claims on social media of having tickets for World Cup matches and taking money from people willing to buy those.
An officer at Lalbazar’s cyber crime police station said Ghosh was “addicted” to online gaming and had incurred huge debts by losing money on online games.
“According to his statement, he had spent a large amount of money he made by cheating people on Facebook on online games,” said the officer.
Ghosh had allegedly posted advertisements on his Facebook page saying he had access to tickets of the November 5 match between South Africa and India.
Those who contacted Ghosh reportedly paid him double or triple the ticket prices but did not get any tickets.
Banerjee, a bank official from Bijoygarh, lost Rs 94,000 while trying to purchase 42 tickets for his family, friends and relatives, the police said.
Several other Kolkatans, including a Class XII student, had lodged a complaint with Howrah police saying they had been cheated out of Rs 30,000 while trying to buy tickets for the India-South Africa match through Facebook.
Their money was not recovered till Sunday, the police said.