Crackdown: Seven nabbed from Gujarat in cyber fraud cases

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police and Bidhannagar City Police arrested seven persons from different parts of Gujarat in the past week in connection with multiple cyber fraud cases.

According to sources, on March 27, last year, an elderly woman identified as Dipannita Dhar of the Kankurgachhi area lodged a complaint at the Cyber Crime police station alleging that she was duped by unknown fraudsters posing as Mumbai Police personnel.

The fraudsters allegedly told the woman that a parcel booked in her name contained 200 grams of the banned drug MDMA along with other illegal items, and that it was being sent from Mumbai to a person identified as “Mr Zhang”.

Even though Dhar denied booking any such parcel, the callers claimed that her Aadhaar card had been used for the shipment and that a case had already been registered against her.

Moments later, the fraudsters instructed Dhar to transfer money as a “security deposit” to clear her name, assuring her that the amount would be returned once the process was completed.

Trusting them, the elderly woman ended up paying more than Rs 78 lakh. When the fraudsters demanded additional money, she finally realised she had been cheated. During the investigation, police arrested three individuals from different parts of Gujarat over the past week. Separately, in the past week, Bidhannagar City Police arrested four persons from Surat and Ahmedabad in connection with two investment fraud cases. The accused had allegedly persuaded the complainants to invest large sums by promising high returns through share trading and easy withdrawals.

Although the complainants initially received some profit, they were later denied further withdrawals. It may be noted that the Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) of the state police is probing another investment fraud case in which industrialist Pawan Ruia’s involvement has reportedly come under scrutiny.