CHENNAI: A retired bank officer donned the role of a detective and tracked down a phishing scam involving online theft of money using WhatsApp On Friday, Balasubramani, 65, transferred Rs 50,000 in two transactions after he got messages from an account with his friend’s profile photo. “I received a distress message from an unknown number around 9pm. It read: ‘Please help, transfer Rs 25,000 to a bank account as I am stuck in the immigration’,” said Balasubramani.“The account had a photo of my friend Prasanna. I thought he may have taken a new number. I called him but the call got disconnected. I received another message which said, ‘I cannot attend calls now as I am in the immigration queue’,” he said.On receiving the account details, Balasubramani transferred Rs 25,000. Soon, he received another message asking him to resend the money through IMPS.“I got a shock when later I read a message from Prasanna’s original mobile number that his name and details were being used for phishing,” Balasubramani said.Embarrassed to lodge a formal complaint, he decided to investigate himself. Balasubramani called up former colleagues at the bank and found out that the beneficiary, Bhuvan, was a staff at a hotel in Choolaimedu. He spoke to him posing as a bank vigilance officer.Bhuvan told him that he had transferred the money to three different accounts as per instructions of a hotel customer. “ I went to police and lodged a complaint,” Balasubramani said.Bhuvan told police that a man named Prashanth had sought his help to transfer the funds. Police told Bhuvan to keep them in the loop if he received any instructions from Prashanth. “The next day Bhuvan received Rs 37,000. He got message from Prashanth requesting him to transfer the money to three accounts in Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata and Delhi,” said Balasubramani. But Bhuvan did not.When police went to the hotel, they found two men on a bike keeping a watch on them. Before police could stop the vehicle, Prashanth got off and fled. Police took the biker to the Choolaimedu police station from where he called Prashanth. The latter was detained when he arrived.“Prashanth is facing cheating cases in Bengaluru and Chennai. He has transferred the money through his friend to my bank account,” said Balasubramani.The Choolaimedu police arrested Prashanth and handed him over to the Ashok Nagar police station.

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