Bengal men promise gifts to Class 12 girl online; swindles Rs 36K

CHENNAI: Chennai Police on Thursday arrested two men from West Bengal, who allegedly cheated a city resident of Rs 36,000 online by promising gifts.

Police suspect the arrested men to have cheated several persons in the State by using the similar modus operandi.

The arrested persons were identified as Bipul Malakar (22) and Gowshik Mondal (22), residents of Barrackpore near Kolkata.

According to police, the accused had contacted the teenaged daughter of one G Harikrishna Rao (50) of Peravallur in December 2022 and claimed to be calling from the customer care of a popular online shopping website.

They told the girl that she has been selected in a lucky draw and to avail the costly gadget, she had to buy cosmetics worth Rs 5,000. Believing them, the girl got money from her parents and transferred it online, in the hopes that she would get a laptop.

In a few days, the accused contacted the girl and told that they would help with insurance of the laptop and demanded more money. The girl ended up transferring more than Rs 30,000 in two instalments.

After a while, the phone number of the accused was switched off after which the girl realised she was conned and told her parents. Her parents filed a complaint with the Peravallur Police station.

Recently, on receiving a tip off about the conmen, a special team from Chennai Police headed by Villivakkam assistant commissioner of police, Raghavendra Ravi camped in the north eastern state and nabbed the accused.

They were produced before a court there and after obtaining a transit warrant, were brought to the city. The accused were produced before a magistrate here and remanded in custody.