A retired chief commissioner of the income-tax department settled in Pune got back the sum he had lost to an online cheat with help from Kolkata police.
The retired official, who was wondering where to lodge a complaint after being cheated, stumbled upon the news of the Port Division of the city police opening a cyber cell on December 20 on the social media.
“The gentleman contacted us on the day the cyber cell was inaugurated. Though the case was not under our jurisdiction, still we decided to help him and contacted the bank through whose payment gateway the transaction was made. The stolen money has been recovered,” said deputy commissioner (port) Zafar Ajmal Kidwai.
A few weeks ago, the man had written a complaint on the social media page of an e-commerce giant over the delay of a shipment.
The complaint was spotted by a fraudster who approached him posing as a customer care executive of the company.
The fraudster asked him to download an app on his phone and make a transaction of Rs 2 as “processing fee for the complaint,” through net banking.
Through the app the fraudster managed to access his banking details. The elderly man was duped of Rs 20,000, the police said.
Thousands of people across the country are getting cheated in a similar way by fraudsters approaching them either as bank officials or as customer care executives of service providers.
Senior officers in Lalbazar said it was advisable to never download any mobile application based on suggestions by telephone callers even if they introduced themselves as bank officials or customer care executives of reputed companies.