Kolkata man loses money without sharing banking data, OTP

KOLKATA: A Naktala resident has raised fresh concerns of skimming gangs targeting Kolkatans yet again. The past two years’ experience — where two separate Romanian gangs and one from Gaya and Dhanbad siphoned off huge amounts of money from city-based victims — has made cops cautious.
“So far, it has been established that the victim, identified as Anirban Banerjee and residing on Naktala Road, did not share any personal banking data or any OTP. This has made us wonder that this might even be skimming,” said an investigating officer, adding that they have not yet ruled out other forms of fraud yet since they have not yet registered any other similar complaint from the area.
Nevertheless, cops said they have already begun checking the nearby ATMs to make sure none has been compromised. Usually, a number of victims end up losing money in these forms of crime. “We have asked him to ascertain if he had travelled elsewhere in the recent past,” said an officer from Lalbazar’s bank fraud section.
The FIR said: “It was after February 6 that some unidentified accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy and in pursuant to the same fraudulently withdrew Rs 19,400 from the complainant’s bank account. The complainant has his account in the bank’s Garia branch.”
Meanwhile, another victim from Dhakuria claimed he was duped in the name of being provided a job by a fake agency. The case was recorded on the basis of a letter of complaint submitted by Abira Ganguly, a resident of Sarat Ghosh Garden Road. “On February 10, two persons entered into a criminal conspiracy and in pursuant to that dishonestly induced the complainant’s brother over mobile phone and offered a bank job for which the complainant’s brother filled up a form and used the complainant’s account to pay Rs 250 for the same. But instead of Rs 250, the accused managed to siphon off Rs 2,500. Two days later, on the pretext of refunding money, they sent a link from the mail ID of accused Sanjay Patra and deducted another Rs 7,000,” the FIR said.