Ex-bank staffer loses 26L to cyber crooks, alert saves 17L
Times of India | 27 December 2025
Kolkata: Quick coordination between a public sector bank and the West Bengal Cyber Crime Wing stopped an online investment fraud and saved a retired bank official from losing another Rs 16.6 lakh in a fake trading scheme, where he was already duped of Rs 26 lakh in the last few weeks.
Cops said the action was taken on Dec 22 after the bank detected a suspicious transaction in the customer's account and alerted the cyber crime wing. Officers immediately contacted the victim, a north Kolkata resident, and warned him before more money could be transferred. Police said the timely alert helped prevent further losses.
The man already lost around Rs 26 lakh after falling into an online investment trap. Cyber officials guided him to register a complaint through the national cybercrime helpline—1930, which allowed investigators to quickly begin tracing the money and identifying beneficiary accounts.
Steps are also being taken to freeze suspect accounts according to legal procedure, cops said. Investigators said the victim was lured through social media. He joined a WhatsApp "trading group" promoted on Instagram and was asked to invest through a mobile application named "PZENA", which is now under investigation.
"The money trail is being analysed and efforts are on to recover the defrauded amount," a senior officer involved in the probe said.
Officers of the Cyber Crime Wing said the case shows the importance of stopping cyber frauds at an early stage instead of acting only after the money is lost. They said the focus is now on breaking the network that enables such crimes.
At a recent meeting with bank officials, the cyber wing highlighted the misuse of "mule accounts", which are used to move illegal money. "In one major bank branch alone, over 5,000 accounts have appeared in complaints filed on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal since April 2025," the officer added. The officer also said that cops are investigating possible insider data leaks and taking action against individuals and companies allegedly involved in organised cyber fraud.
Police said banks have been reminded about lapses in KYC and due diligence that have allowed large sums of money to be siphoned off. They also pointed out differences in how quickly banks respond to cybercrime complaints and urged slower banks to improve their response time.
"With many banks now using AI tools to flag suspicious transactions, we have asked for real-time sharing of alerts so frauds can be stopped while they are still in progress," the officer added.