BENGALURU: The Adugodi police arrested 12 interstate cybercrime fraudsters who cheated a 43-year-old woman by offering her a fake work-from-home job and duping her of Rs 5 lakh. A senior police officer said the main accused, Harshvardhan, had been running the job racket for the past two years out of a call centre in Uttar Pradesh.
Harshvardhan and his associates used to randomly call and message people, offering them fake online job opportunities. The victims said that once the work was completed, the fraudsters would claim errors in the work, requesting to register on another platform for the withdrawal.
They would initially transfer Rs 10,000- 20,000 to victims and later demand to deposit the amount in lakhs, assuring victims that they would receive higher returns. The police suspect that the gang has defrauded victims of nearly Rs 1 crore.
According to the police, in April, Soumya Banu, a resident of L R Nagar in Adugodi, received a message from an unknown person offering a workfrom- home project with commission-based earnings. After she completed the assigned tasks, she was instructed to register on a platform to withdraw her earnings.
Initially, she received small amounts, and later was convinced that if she paid Rs 5 lakh, she would receive Rs 10 lakh in return. Believing this, she transferred Rs 5 lakh in phases to various bank accounts via UPI. When the fraudsters demanded an additional Rs 3 lakh, she became suspicious and complained to the police.
The other accused are Akash Kumar Yadav, Gorakanath, Akash Kumar Singh, Amit Yadav, Pratap Singh, Birjesh Singh, Raj Mishra, Tushar Mishra, and Gautham, all residents of Uttar Pradesh; Sonu, a native of Maharashtra; and Sujith Kumar, a native of Bihar. Several accused were arrested in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and brought to Bengaluru. The police seized 400 SIM cards, 140 ATM cards, 22 bank passbooks, and 27 mobile phones.
Man arrested for duping job seekers of Rs 14.23 lakh
The Special Enquiry squad of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has arrested a man for allegedly defrauding eight job seekers by promising employment in reputed multinational companies (MNCs) and scamming Rs 14.23 lakhs off the victims.
Two others involved in the scam are currently absconding. The accused Pathnul Khalandar Khan (43) is a resident of 5th Phase, JP Nagar. The absconding accused are Veeresh and Inayath. The police said that based on a complaint filed by Geetha, a job seeker, Khan was arrested.
They had allegedly posted the job opportunity with a reputed MNC on social media and conducted a fake job interview, and promised employment and demanded Rs 2 lakh. One of the victims, Geetha, had paid Rs 2,70,000 via UPI.
However, she did not receive any offer letter. Growing suspicious, when she enquired, the accused began ignoring her calls. The investigation revealed that seven other candidates were similarly duped. Police said a manhunt has begun for the two absconding accused.