A youth was arrested on Tuesday night from Patrasayer in Bankura for his alleged involvement in duping an elderly woman aged about 74 years by offering to clear pending dues from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
According to sources, the elderly woman, a resident of the Labony Estate area, received a call from an unknown number on November 16, 2022. The caller introduced herself as Shweta Singh, an EPF official. The woman told the senior citizen, who had retired long ago from a private company, that she will get an extra amount from the pension scheme of the EPF. Though the senior citizen did not show much interest initially, after receiving more such calls from different mobile numbers, she got convinced.
In good faith, the septuagenarian followed the directions of the caller and downloaded a remote access software through which the fraudsters gained access to her smartphone and asked her to put in her netbanking credentials.
Having received the credentials, about Rs 2 lakh were debited from her account.
After a complaint was lodged at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station, the cops tried to track the money trail. After getting feedback from the concerned bank, it was found that the amount was credited to the account of the accused identified as Arindam Palit of Patrasayer in Bankura. Subsequently, on Tuesday night the cops picked up the accused from his house. He is being interrogated to find out other persons involved.