HYDERABAD: A nationwide racket that trapped thousands of youngsters by promising memberships in dating portals and escort services was busted by Cyberabad cyber crime police on Tuesday. The gang is said to have cheated more than 600 people in the Telugu States alone. Operating from over 20 locations in
West Bengal, the gang is said to have looted lakhs from people without providing the promised services.
Police have arrested two members of the gang, Neetha Shankar and Sandeep Mitra. Both are said to be the managers of the operations in Siliguri. Masterminds of the outfit Debashish Mukherjee, Faijul Haq and Anita Dey are absconding. Police say the business was floated about 5 years ago by Debasish, who started advertising and hiring girls to work as telecallers.
He then created three websites: www.worlddating.com, www.getyourlady.com, www.mylove18.in, and started attracting clients by offering dating and escort services. Prospective customers had to register with the websites by providing their mobile number, e-mail address and location details. The women hired as telecallers then got in touch with registered customers, rather victims, to “process their registration”.
Police say the telecallers asked the clients to pay “huge amounts” towards different charges and once the process was initiated, Anitha Dey got in touch with customers posing as the HR manager of the company. She would then conduct a background check of the customers under the pretext ensuring safety of dating partners. And once the money is paid, the calls stopped and the gang went absconding.
They have been cheating many people in the same way for a very long time now, say the police. The issue only came to light after a city-based victim raised a complaint after losing Rs 15 lakh. “Based on the complaint and clues, raids were conducted on two branches of the gang in Siliguri and two managers were arrested,” said Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar.
“About 37 women were found to be working as telecallers with the company in the two branches. They were tricked and hired to promote Ayurveda products and were later told about the scam and coached on how to handle calls from different States.
They were given the job of luring customers and were paid 1 per cent of the total money,” he said.