Six people, including three from Nallasopara on the outskirts of Mumbai, have been arrested for allegedly cloning the WhatsApp display picture (DP) of a city-based merchant and using it to dupe a friend of the trader’s out of ₹50 lakh, police said.

The merchant deals in a reputed brand of plywood.

Using fake DPs to cheat businessmen is a new trend among a section of cyber criminals in the city with contacts beyond the state, cops said.

The police said they have seized over ₹24 lakh from the accused.

An investigation was launched following a complaint lodged with Park Street police station on March 4.

The arrests were made over the last few days, the last one on Pollock Street on Saturday, the police said.

On March 1, the group of six allegedly cloned the WhatsApp DP of the merchant, called a friend of his and asked him to arrange ₹50 lakh, the police said.

The caller allegedly said he needed the amount in cash for an emergency.

“The group called the friend of the trader, a resident of Park Street, and requested him to arrange the amount. The friend collected the amount from different sources and handed it over to two of the six accused who posed as representatives of the plywood merchant,” said a senior officer of Park Street police station.

“The transaction took place on Park Street,” the officer said.

Within the next three days, the fraud came to light and the merchant realised his DP had been used to cheat his friend.

The businessman lodged a complaint and a case was drawn up at Park Street police station under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including 338 (forgery), 336 (cheating someone by altering electronic records or documents) and 340 (passing forged electronic documents as real).

Investigators began scanning CCTV footage from the area.

They zeroed in on some of the accused. Their photographs were scanned and sent to all police stations in the city, across Bengal and even outside the state.

A Kolkata Police team left for Mumbai and with the help of their counterparts in Nallasopara, arrested three men — Waqab Mohammad, 28, Riya Razi Sayed, 36, and Sachin Manohar Prasad, 32 — on March 13, the officer said.

“A backpack used to carry the cash was recovered along with the apparel that the three wore on the day the amount was handed over. Five pre-activated SIM cards were also found in their possession,” he said.

During interrogation, the police found out that the trio had used their Calcutta contacts to commit the crime.

On March 14, Pawan Shaw, 36, was arrested in Phoolbagan. Based on his confession, the cops arrested Mahendra Pal Singh, 39, and Chetan Singh Dahiya, 40, on Pollock Street in central Calcutta.

“Over ₹24 lakh was recovered from them along with a currency counting machine,” the officer said. “We are yet to unravel the whole plot.”

Last week, a businessman from central Calcutta lost close to ₹2 crore in a similar fraud. Fraudsters allegedly tricked him into buying costly cameras from them using online payments. The fraudsters had used fake WhatsApp DPs for reputed camera sellers in the country. Kolkata Police helped the trader recover nearly ₹1.6 crore following a probe by the cyber wing.