A resident of Rajarhat was cheated out of ₹4.5 lakh by a man who initiated contact with the victim through a WhatsApp call on Tritiya, masquerading as a bank representative and acquiring his personal details, which ultimately facilitated the fraudulent activity.
Bidhannagar police arrested a man from Giridih in Jharkhand on Monday in connection with the fraud.
Police said Sukhlal Saha, a resident of Kalipark, in Rajarhat Gopalpur, reported that on September 25, he received a call on WhatsApp from a man who introduced himself as a bank official.
“The complainant, believing the sender to be a genuine bank employee, shared his personal credentials. Consequently, a total of ₹ 4,48,500 was debited from his account through online transactions facilitated by BillDesk, an online payment gateway,” said an officer of Bidhannagar City Police.
Saha first reported the crime to the National Cyber Crime Portal and then went to Narayanpur police station to file a complaint.
Police tracked down the accused through the phone number from which the WhatsApp call was made.
Cops zeroed in on Rahul Kumar Das, a resident of Giridih in Jharkhand, and arrested him on Monday. He was brought to Calcutta on transit remand.
Das was produced before a court in Barrackpore and was remanded in police custody for six days, police said.
Senior police officers said people should remember that banks do not communicate through random or personal mobile numbers via WhatsApp.
“If the bank wants to communicate anything, they will either send an email or a text message to the registered mobile number. Some of the banks have started WhatsApp services, but that too is sent through the centralised server and never through any random or personal phone number,” said an officer of the cyber crime unit of Bidhannagar police.
Another officer said that people become more vulnerable during festivals and are sometimes easily preyed upon by online fraud.