An elderly woman who manages a book reading shop near Shakespeare Sarani was allegedly cheated out of ₹1.2 lakh by an unknown caller.
The caller, who presented himself as the branch manager of a bank, convinced her to install an app that granted him remote access to her phone, enabling him to buy six gift cards from an e-commerce site in someone else's name.
Indira Puri Mistry, 72, a resident of Middleton Street, had received a call on September 11 from a man who introduced himself as the bank’s branch manager.
“I have an account in that branch, so I did not have any suspicion. He said that my debit card needed to be updated. He said the old card will be deactivated and a new card will be sent to me, and all this could be done over the phone,” Indira told Metro on Sunday.
She added that the man also contacted her over WhatsApp and sent her a link, which she clicked on to download an app.
“A few minutes later, when I was still talking to this man over the phone, I received a call on my other number. This was from another bank where I had another account. This time, I was informed that the bank had noticed some suspicious activity in my bank account. I checked my phone and spotted that someone had purchased six gift cards through my e-commerce app. The debit card of the second bank’s account was registered to my e-commerce account. Hence, I received a call from the second bank from whose account the money was debited,” she said.
It was only after receiving the second call mentioning the suspicious transactions that she realised that the first caller was a fraud.
The elderly Calcuttan immediately disconnected the first call and called her bank's customer care number to block the account. By then, ₹1.2 lakh had been debited.
Later, she learned that the six gift cards were bought in the name of someone referred to as Sonu Kumar, a name she had never encountered before.
The gift cards available on any e-commerce website can be redeemed by buying items that total the card's value from the site.
Police said that by obtaining the gift cards, the fraudsters could now purchase goods from the e-commerce site using the money on the cards.
Like many elderly Calcuttans who are vulnerable to online fraud, Indira said she was initially unsure of the steps that needed to be taken once she realised that she had been cheated.
The matter was reported to Shakespeare Sarani police station a few days later, and an FIR was lodged on October 5.
A probe is on.
No one had been arrested till Sunday, the police said.