Thirteen women, all in their 40s, have been duped of thousands by their chat friends over the past three months.

Police have no clue how to trace the culprits.

“It’s difficult to track down the accused, as the complainants do not have their personal information, like addresses and telephone numbers,” said Rajeev Kumar, the special inspector-general (operations) of the CID.

“The women, all well-off, are lonely and looking for a friend or a live-in partner. The accused took advantage of the situation,” he added.

Citing an example, a CID official said a 48-year-old widow from Regent Park was swindled of Rs 50,000. “The woman had registered herself with a chatting site and came across a man 14 years younger. He identified himself as Deba,” the official said.

After chatting with him for a month, the woman decided to meet Deba, who by then had revealed his name as Debasish Sengupta. “We met in a Park Street eatery. He came across as a decent man. We continued chatting and meeting frequently,” the woman mentioned in her complaint.

One day, the woman called Deba to her house. “The first thing he suggested after stepping into the drawing room, was to change its decor,” the official said. Taken in by Deba’s offer of help, she handed over Rs 50,000 to him to do the needful. She hasn’t heard from him since. “The woman doesn’t know Deba’s contact number or address. She has no clue about his profession either,” the sleuth said.

In another case, a youth, identifying himself as Swapnil Dutta, duped a 42-year-old divorcee from Ballygunge of Rs 20,000. “He borrowed the money from her with the promise of returning it the next day. But the youth disappeared from the chat site after that,” the official said.

The other women, who had complained to the CID and the detective department, said they had been duped of amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000.