A Kolkatan lost more than Rs 1.3 crore by clicking on a link to a fraudulent web portal that he thought belonged to a jewellery wholesale company.
Police so far have arrested six members of a group that was allegedly involved in the fraud that happened in July.
“The complainant, who is a businessman, had transferred money through a web portal that resembled the website of another company with a similar name. The website offered online purchase of gold and diamond jewellery at an attractive rate,” said an officer.
The stolen amount was first transferred to another account and then distributed to 11 other bank accounts.
Three of the accused have been identified as Sanjay Yadav, Rajesh Tungar, Vivek Tungar and Yuvraj Agarwal — who were arrested earlier this month.
Two more persons identified as Arihant Agarwal and Ashis Trivedi were arrested on Tuesday night from Ballygunge in south Kolkata, police said.
“Agarwal was operating two bank accounts where a part of the siphoned money was transferred. Out of the misappropriated amount, Rs 10 lakh was transferred to a company’s account in the Kalakar Street branch of a private bank. From this account, Rs 74,000 was further transferred to the account of a dance and fitness studio in Ranchi. Both these accounts were operated through a mobile number which we found belonged to Agarwal,” said an officer.
A senior police officer said a large number of people fall prey to similar kinds of online fraud by clicking on the wrong websites.
“People need to be cautious while clicking on websites and making online transactions,” said the officer.