A 75-year-old retired government official was cheated out of Rs 36 lakh after fraudsters befriended him on a social media platform through a fake profile and then blackmailed him with his photographs and videos by posing as officers of a central agency.
One person has been arrested from Haryana in this connection.
Police officers at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar said the elderly man fell victim to a "sextortion racket".
The crime was reported in February 2023.
"First, a woman befriended him through a Facebook profile and managed to get his photographs. Then he started receiving text messages from an unknown number through a WhatsApp account that had the logo of a central agency as the profile picture," said an officer.
The cheats demanded money posing as officers of a central agency, the officer said.
The victim, wary of his reputation, parted with the money. However, the fraudsters continued with their demands, making him suspicious.
Based on electronic evidence, investigators zeroed in on the location of a suspect in Haryana.
"The officers conducted a raid on Thursday night and arrested Zahid, 37, from his house at Hirwani, Firozpur Jhirka, in Haryana. He was produced in a court and granted transit remand till April 23," an officer said.
