COIMBATORE: A 57-year-old man was arrested in Coimbatore on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding 44 people of Rs 1.47 crore by promising them jobs abroad. The man was involved in such white-collar job scams for more than 15 years and is wanted in cybercrime cases in Andhra Pradesh, Salem and Peelamedu.
The arrested was identified as D Chinnappan alias David Paul (57) of Poombukar Nagar at Viswanathapuram near Thudiyalur in the district. He was a native of Gudalur and settled in Coimbatore a few years ago. Chinnappan was running a book stall and computer centre and was also a realtor.
According to police, taking advantage of the pandemic, in which many people lost their jobs, the suspect made alluring claims to the job seekers about setting up employment abroad. Many approached him and asked about job possibilities after learning about his service.
He promised them jobs in Dubai, Canada, and Australia and collected lakhs of rupees . The transaction took place between 2019 and 2020 and he allegedly issued fake appointment orders to all. In total, he had obtained around Rs 1.47 crore from 44 people.
S Sagayaraj, a victim, from Mugalivakkam in Chennai lodged a police complaint against Chinnappan and based on that, Coimbatore Crime Branch police arrested and remanded him to prison on Tuesday. A luxury car was also seized from him, sources said.
Inspector Rajeshwari of the Crime Branch said, "There were no complaint against him from Coimbatore earlier and so did not arrest him. He was declared as absconding by other police. We arrested him now in the direct job scam case."