Police arrest 5 in 2 cases of e-wallet, bank account fraud

Kolkata: The Bank Fraud section of Kolkata Police has arrested five persons accused in two separate cases for making fraudulent transactions and e-wallet fraud from Jharkhand.

According to police, in the past few months multiple complaints have been lodged regarding e-wallet fraud. Earlier, several miscreants were nabbed from Jharkhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and some other states, who were involved in the fraud. Investigators have observed that as people are using digital modes of payment like e-wallets frequently, fraudsters have now started targeting the users.

E-wallet frauds are being committed in three ways. The most trending way of duping people is to convince the user to download a remote access smartphone application, through which fraudsters gain access to the user's device.

Sources informed that fraudsters generally call the user posing as an employee of Paytm or other such e-wallet companies and tell them that their wallet will be closed if they do not follow their instructions.

Following this, the miscreants ask the user to download a remote access application and collect the user's information. Fraudsters usually make a transaction and use the one-time password (OTP) that is sent to the user's mobile phone.

On January 15, a person identified as Samir Kumar Sinha lodged a complaint, claiming that his Paytm account has been hacked and he lost Rs 6.05 lakh.

During probe, police traced the mobile number using which the fraudulent calls were made. During the last week of January, police traced the location of the accused person identified as Vinod Kumar Pandit of Deoghar in Jharkhand, who was later found to be one of the masterminds of the e-wallet fraud.

A team was sent to Deoghar, which nabbed Pandit on January 31. He was brought to Kolkata on transit remand and produced at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Kolkata, on Sunday, following which Pandit was sent to police custody till February 10.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, the Bank Fraud section arrested four members of the notorious 'Jamtara gang' on Saturday from Jamtara and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.

According to police, the accused persons used to call people randomly and used to tell them that their ATM cards or bank accounts would be suspended if they did not provide some details.

On June 27, 2019, a person identified as Pradip Kumar Chaudhury lodged a complaint against an unknown caller, who introduced himself as a bank official and asked for some account related information.

Believing the caller, when Chaudhury gave the details, several transactions worth Rs 88 lakh were made. But due to prompt action by police following the complaint, siphoning of Rs 30 lakh was blocked.

During investigation, police had arrested seven persons during July and August last year. After arresting the four accused on Saturday, police came to know that the cheated money was layered in 150 online bank accounts opened by fraudulent means across the country.