Fake gift items, holiday offers: Frauds cash in on Poila Baisakh e-sale rush in West Bengal

KOLKATA: The Kolkata, Bidhannagar and Barrackpore City police, along with the CID, have received half a dozen complaints recently of victims falling prey to fly-by-the-night travel agents and traders, with whom they interacted online, for ordering gifts ahead of the Bengali New Year or Poila Baisakh.
Cops have already warned that cyber criminals could try to take advantage of the Poila Baisakh when there is a rise in online orders.
Most of these frauds — usually recorded between a month prior to Poila Baisakh and the New Year Day — are either fake “Bengali traditional items” (from clothes to even ‘Chhanapora’ sweet) or offers of fake holiday packages, the favourites being North Sikkim and Purulia.
The detective department, that had issued advisories after a spurt in online fraud cases during Durga Puja, is again asking people to be careful. While such cases see a rise during the festive season, what makes this year unique is the fact that the frauds are continuously innovating their modus operandi.
Behala resident Sanjay Saha had ordered custom-made Sukumar Roy inspired Hojoborolo T-shirts from an online store. The products never arrived. Fraudsters are also targeting delivery apps, often covering their tracks by erasing cookies history and using voice-over-IP manipulation as they test out stolen credit cards.
A travel agency’s name was used to dupe Arijit Chatterjee of Belgachhia recently. He had called on the agency’s contact number and it was answered by a person who was a fraudster. “He then told him to make a booking and insisted that the customer needed to pay Rs 5 as a token fee by clicking on a link that he would send. The moment a customer accesses the link, his banking details get exposed,” said an officer.