Four students of a government-aided school in the city who were to get a grant from the state government to buy tabs received text messages that their money had been credited to their bank accounts. But on checking, they found that no money had been credited.
Police said they came to know during investigation that someone had linked new bank accounts to the students’ phone numbers and used the accounts to receive the government grant.
Two men have been arrested in Uttar Dinajpur district. They were allegedly hired by fraudsters to open bank accounts and link them to the students’ phone numbers.
A senior officer at Lalbazar identified the two accused as Kaiser Alam and Hanifur Islam. Both were picked up from Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district.
“After receiving the complaints, we started collecting details of the bank accounts that were found linked to the mobile numbers of the students and zeroed in on the account holders. The men were tracked down to Uttar Dinajpur,” said the officer.
The two have apparently told the police that they were hired by someone, who contacted them over the phone and asked them to open bank accounts and register them against phone numbers of the students.
“They said they were promised a small percentage of the money that would be transferred to the accounts,” said an officer.
This is not the first time that allegations have surfaced that government grants are not reaching beneficiaries. Many feel the two who were arrested were part of a large organised racket. Kaiser and Hanifur have been brought to Kolkata.
A senior officer said they were trying to identify the persons who had access to the database of government-aided schools that contains details of the students, including their phone numbers and bank account numbers.
Another officer said “hiring” of bank accounts was a common thing while committing online fraud.
“Fraudsters never use their own bank accounts. They hire people to open accounts and withdraw the duped money on their behalf. The hired people act as middlemen and get a small percentage of the money,” the officer said.