BENGALURU: The Mumbai crime branch unit is on the lookout for an interstate gang, which is allegedly offering lucrative international jobs to gullible senior citizens through social media and cheating them of huge sums of money. Some of the gang members may be active in Karnataka as well, the team suspects.
A senior police officer from the Cyber Crime unit in Bengaluru confirmed that Mumbai Police team has asked for details of gangs involved in similar fraud.
“Recently, one of the accused was arrested from Mumbai’s Goregaon. During interrogation, he revealed that three of his accomplices were staying in Bengaluru. Based on the information, the three accused have been arrested, but we are looking for more such people who could be part of the racket,” said a senior officer.
“The racket may have its tentacles spread across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and other states,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), Mumbai, Akbar Pathan told The New Indian Express.
“Investigation is under way to unravel all the Indian and global links. We are also trying to find out how many people have been cheated by the gang,” he added.
The gang was exposed when a senior citizen in Mumbai, who had earlier worked in a Gulf country, was looking for a suitable job when he came across a Facebook page ‘International Jobs & Free Recruitment’. Claiming impeccable credentials, the advertiser offered high-paying technical jobs in USA, Canada, UAE and other countries for interested applicants.
Accordingly, the complainant established contacts with the advertiser who sought his bio-data, documents and certificates on e-mail and social media, and subsequently got back with an offer of a well-paying job in Canada matching his profile. The advertiser also created a WhatsApp Group with a foreign mobile SIM card and asked the complainant and other applicants to submit their details like photos, passports, visas, etc.
Thereafter, the applicants were told to deposit Rs 1,48,000 in different bank accounts for processing their job applications and other expenses. When nothing seemed to move forward in the matter for nearly two months, the applicants demanded their money back, but were subsequently threatened by the advertiser.
“This was just one of the modi operandi used. There are many other ways in which senior citizens get cheated by these gangs,” said an investigating officer.