A 26-year-old man was arrested from Phoolbagan in north-central Kolkata on Sunday for allegedly cheating a senior citizen of Canada of 33,325 Canadian dollars in the guise of offering her tech support, police said.
According to the complainant, she had lost 33,325 Canadian dollars — around Rs 21 lakhs — sometime in May while taking instructions from a caller who had claimed to be a tech expert. The police identified the accused as Ejazuddin Ahmed.
“He has been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy,” said an officer. Police sources said the woman had told the Canadian police that the caller had introduced himself as an employee of a multi-national tech company and had assured her help in resolving a glitch that had appeared on her workstation. The caller then allegedly asked the woman to download a link that he had sent on WhatsApp. Within minutes of downloading the link, the woman alleged that she lost the money in a few instalments.
“The link was a screen-mirroring app to get hold of the woman’s banking details,” the officer said. After realising that she has been conned, the woman sought help from the police in Canada. A probe revealed that money had moved into an e-wallet belonging to someone in India. The complaint was forwarded to the ministry of external affairs in India through Interpol. The CBI was assigned the case. The central agency handed the case over to the cyber cell of Kolkata police.