A CORRESPONDENT
BARPETA: Barpeta police have arrested three members of an alleged cyberfraud syndicate for duping a woman of nearly Rs 1 lakh under the pretext of processing a refund for an online shopping order.
The accused have been identified as Mozammil Haque, Hamidul Khan, and Majidur Rahman, all residents of Damaljhar village near Palhaji under the jurisdiction of Barpeta Sadar police station. During the operation, police seized four bank passbooks, seven debit cards, and three mobile phones from their possession.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Samiran Baishya said that the trio was part of a larger cybercrime network that allegedly rented bank accounts from residents to receive and withdraw money obtained through online fraud. The case came to light after the wife of journalist Diganta Das, Director of DPRC Guwahati, lodged a complaint with Barpeta police. On October 28, she had cancelled an order placed on the online shopping platform FirstCry and was later contacted by a fraudster posing as a customer care executive. Under the guise of facilitating a refund, the scammer managed to siphon off nearly Rs 1 lakh from her bank account within seconds. Based on the complaint, Barpeta Police traced the transaction trail, identified the beneficiary accounts, and arrested the three accused.