Kolkata Police are on the lookout for websites selling skimming devices, with the use of such illegal devices suspected in the Rs 20 lakh bank fraud in the city.

Police sources at Lalbazar said that some of the “e-commerce” portals selling such products have already come under their lens, though verification in this regard will have to be done before steps can be initiated against them.

This comes in the wake of the city police contending that they have enough clues to believe that the fraudsters had inserted skimming devices in ATM machines to clone debit cards and facilitate the fraudulent withdrawal of money.

“We are keeping a watch on websites selling such devices. We are verifying if they are selling the items illegally before any steps can be taken,” Praveen Tripathi, joint police commissioner (Crime), said.

With complaints of cash being siphoned off from the accounts in nationalised and private banks continuing to trickle in, Kolkata Police are certain that an organised gang is behind the act.

A radio jockey too became a victim of the alleged fraud, complaining that Rs 50, 000 had been siphoned off from her Axis Bank account. She has lodged a complaint with the Alipore police station.

“I was at the gym in the morning when I got two emails stating that Rs 50,000 had been deducted from my Axis Bank account. I did not share my OTP with any body, nor did I give my account number to anyone. Moreover, I did not purchase anything online. I have lodged a complaint with Alipore police station,” said Nilanjana, a radio jockey.

Meanwhile, the CCTV footage of an alleged accused placing a ‘skimmer device’ at the Golpark ATM of Canara Bank, who is believed to have used the ATM four times since April, is being scanned thoroughly.

A source close to the antifraud section of Kolkata Police said that the involvement of Nigerians who were arrested some time back in Delhi in connection with a fraud case, cannot be ruled out, moreso when the alleged fraudulent withdrawal was accomplished in Delhi after hacking the servers of both the Gariahat branch of Canara bank and Mallikbazar branch of Punjab National Bank.

Meanwhile, the total number of complaints of fraudulent withdrawal of money from their accounts rose to 78 today, while the number of customers of the Gariahat branch of Canara Bank falling victims to such foul play rose to 40.

Earlier, police had sealed the two ATMs at Gariahat and Mallikbazar, where the alleged insertion of skimmer devices had taken place to clone ATM cards.

The ambit of the alleged fraud which had spread its tentacles to nationalised and private banks has not even spared the assistant general manager (AGM) of the Canara Bank branch, as reports suggest that he also lost Rs 40,000 from his account.