“The caller asked her about an EMI she had defaulted on for a loan she had taken from a finance company. She was threatened that she would be arrested if she failed to make the payment through a link sent on her mobile phone,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate.

Feeling threatened, she transferred Rs 18,233 through the link, the police said. “Later, she was asked for another Rs 55,000 as the final settlement of the loan,” the officer said.

However, after making the payments, the finance company from where she had taken the loan told her that the EMI she had defaulted on was yet to be paid. It was then that she realised that she had been cheated.

The woman lodged a complaint with Bidhannagar Cyber police station.

The police zeroed in on Mithun Mondal, 23, from Gosaba, and then two others — Somnath Banerjee, 42, from Birati, and Sudipta Sarkar, 40, from Dum Dum

“It is still not known how the accused men could get information about the loan details of the woman and the amount she had defaulted on. The three accused were apparently not linked to the finance company that gave the loan,” said deputy commissioner, detective department, Bidhannagar commissionerate, Biswajit Ghosh.