An elderly resident of Lake Town was allegedly duped of over Rs 3 lakh after she received a phone call from a man who posed as a bank official and convinced her that her bank account would be blocked if she did not download an app and click on a link sent to her phone.
Bidhannagar police have arrested a man from Bihar in connection with this case.
The elderly woman had received the call in the last week of October and was asked to update her “Know Your Customer” documents immediately.
“The elderly woman was scared that her bank account was about to be blocked if she did not update her KYC documents. As she did not know how to update her KYC online, the caller had advised her to download a mobile app and follow his instructions over the phone,” said an officer of Lake Town police station.
The woman was allegedly made to download an app and asked to share a code that came on her phone. “This way, she unknowingly gave remote access to her mobile phone from where the fraudsters could see her banking details. They later used it to make online transactions without her knowledge,” said the officer of Bidhannagar police.
Her son lodged a complaint with Lake Town police station on October 24, following which a case was started.
Investigators traced the phone number from where she had received the call to a man whose location was found in Bihar.
The police identified him as Dharmendra Kumar, who was arrested from Gaya earlier this week and brought to Calcutta on Friday night.
Kumar has been booked under sections of cheating and criminal conspiracy.
“It is a matter of investigation if this man was working alone or is a part of a larger team. Usually, these are organised crimes that are carried out by large rackets. If one member is engaged in making the calls, someone else does the online transactions while other members open bank accounts with fake documents where the money is transferred before the money is withdrawn using ATM cards,” said an officer.