A man has been arrested for allegedly cheating at least two women from Salt Lake by posing as the owner of a fictitious appliance repair company and taking money from them as “annual maintenance charges” for home appliances.

Police said Arpan Sarkar, 25, from Madhyamgram, would post online advertisements and put up posters on walls claiming that his company was adept at repairing electrical home appliances of all brands.

His advertisements also claimed that his team had professional plumbers who could repair water pumps, a senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.

Sarkar was arrested based on a complaint filed by Mumu De, a resident of CG Block in Salt Lake. She had called a number provided in one of Sarkar’s online advertisements. Sarkar had listed the name of his company as KB Service Centre, the officer said.

According to the officer, Sarkar visited her home and inspected the refrigerator, microwave oven, air-conditioners and other devices.

“De had complained that her refrigerator was having cooling issues and some ACs had stopped working. De told her that he could repair the appliances and took Rs 27,010 for the repairs and as part payment of the company’s annual maintenance package,” the officer said.

After taking the money, Sarkar stopped all communication with De and no mechanic visited the house, said the officer.

De tried to get in touch with Sarkar and waited for him to call for several days, after which she approached Bidhannagar East police station.

“We had received a similar complaint from Alpana Paul of BK Block in Salt Lake. We started a probe and arrested Sarkar near Gopal Nagar in Madhyamgram,” said joint commissioner, headquarters, Bidhannagar commissionerate, Badana VarunChandrasekhar.

“During the probe, our team found that Sarkar had no registered company,” said Chandrasekhar.

The cops seized a couple of smartphones, a point-of-sale (POS) machine and several pamphlets and documents from Sarkar that advertised the services.

Sarkar has been charged under various sections of the IPC, including 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty), the police said.

A senior officer of the Bdihannagar commissionerate said residents must cross-check the credentials of any individual they contact after getting to know about them from online advertisements, pamphlets distributed at home or posters on walls.