Two men in their 20s were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly duping several people by luring them to like videos on various social media sites in lieu of money and asking them to invest in a trading app.
Subhadip Singha Roy and Samir Sarkar were arrested close to their homes near Lake Mall by a team from the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime police station, a senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
The duo would send out bulk text messages and messages on Telegram and WhatsApp offering people money for liking videos on social media sites, the officer said.
“In order to gain the trust of their victims, they would send small amounts of money to their mobile wallets initially,” said the officer.
Once the victim was convinced, Roy and Sarkar would send more messages, this time asking them to invest in a trading app and promising high returns.
The duo would call up the victims and tell them that they would get 30 to 40 per cent a year as returns on their investment, the officer said.
“Once a person invested a substantial amount, the two men would stop all forms of communication and switch off the number they used to contact the victim,” the officer said.
The two were arrested based on a tip-off.