A retired executive who was cheated out of ₹2.55 crore in an investment fraud got back his money after police identified the accused — now in the custody of Pune police in connection with another fraud — and recovered the amount.

The complainant, a retired official of a private company, had spotted a scheme that promised “very high returns” on social media and started investing in it. A few days later, when he tried to withdraw his money, he realised that the amount was gone and he had been duped out of ₹2.55 crore.

Amit Kumar Kundu, a resident of Narendrapur on the southern outskirts of Calcutta, lodged a complaint with Baruipur cyber cell on January 31.

“The complainant kept investing in the scheme without an inkling that he was a victim of cybercrime. He had seen an advertisement on social media and fell into the trap,” said an officer of the cyber cell of Baruipur police district.

The police said immediately after the complaint was lodged, the bank was alerted.

The bank could freeze ₹56 lakh of the siphoned money. However, the remaining ₹2 crore had already been transferred through multiple bank accounts and e-wallets and could not be tracked.

In such cyber crimes, the siphoned money is generally transferred through a series of bank accounts and e-wallets within a few minutes and then withdrawn from an ATM, often far from the place where the victim is located.

Multiple bank transactions are carried out to add layers to the fraud, so investigating agencies take time to reach the terminating point and, by the time they reach, the money is withdrawn in some other city.

During their investigation, the police said they found that the people behind the investment scheme that duped Kundu were part of an Ahmedabad-based gang.

The police said the kingpin was found to have been arrested by Pune police in connection with a cybercrime and was in their custody.

A team of officers from Baruipur went to Pune to interrogate him in the custody of Pune police and extracted information about the siphoned money.

“Based on the input, we have recovered the entire amount and handed it to the victim,” said a senior police officer.

Palash Chandra Dhali, superintendent of police, Baruipur, said investments should be made carefully and should not be chosen through lucrative schemes advertised on social media.

“One should be very careful while making investments. We should not fall into the trap of investments promising unusually high returns,” Dhali said.