Kolkata: A man from Chennai was detained for using cyber fraud to defraud Hospital out of crores of dollars
Kolkata: According to authorities on Saturday, the West Bengal police detained a guy from Chennai on suspicion of using a cyber scam to defraud a private hospital in Kolkata of crores of dollars.
The accused, Sikandar Bacha, was taken into custody in Chennai and sent to the Bidhannagar Police Station on transit remand, according to the police. Additionally, a sum of Rs 30.72 lakh that was cheated has been recovered from the defendant.
Atanu Mukherjee, the vice-president of a private hospital in Baguiati, north Kolkata, got a WhatsApp message from an unidentified number earlier this month, the police said. Prashant Sharma, the managing director of the hospital, was seen on the sender’s profile photo.
The imposter said in the message that he would no longer be utilizing his old phone number and would instead use the new number for all communications pertaining to the firm. Mukherjee replied, thinking the communication was sincere.
The same caller sent Mukherjee another message the next day telling him to move a sizable amount of money from the hospital’s account to a different bank account. He obeyed, assuming it was a direct order from the managing director. He didn’t realize he had been duped and had been a victim of cyber fraud until much later.
An inquiry was then started when Mukherjee filed a complaint with the Baguiati police. The authorities tracked out the bank account used to siphon off the money to Tamil Nadu during the investigation.
To find the culprit in Tamil Nadu, a team was sent.
Sikandar Bacha, the defendant, was taken into custody in Chennai. He was appeared in court after being taken to the police station on travel remand, where he was placed under seven days of police detention. A top Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate official said, “The investigation is underway to determine whether any other individuals were involved in the crime.”
As of right now, the police have recovered Rs 30.72 lakh of the total cash that was taken. According to the authorities, efforts are being made to locate and retrieve the remaining sum.