Two cybercrime networks operating in a similar manner – offering victims an opportunity to make money – have been busted in Delhi with 12 people arrested, police said on Saturday.
A fake jobs network operating from west Delhi has been arrested which duped unemployed youth by offering job opportunities with reputed airlines, officers said. They added that nine people were arrested, including the mastermind Vikash Kumar, his assistant Baljeet Singh, an employee of a telecommunications company, and seven female callers.
“The accused posed as recruiters on job portals and cheated job seekers by offering fake job opportunities in Indigo Airlines. The victims were defrauded on the pretext of processing fees and other fabricated charges. During investigation, more than 40 complaints linked to the accused were found on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP),” DCP South Ankit Chauhan said. According to police, the scammers collected small amounts from many victims, often ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 15,000, making it difficult for victims to notice the scale of the scam.
Officers said the gang had been running the fake call center for more than a year. During raids in Subhash Nagar and Ganesh Nagar in west Delhi, police seized 23 electronic devices, 19 SIM cards, eight UPI-linked QR codes and a Wi-Fi router used in the operation. Police said that a telecom employee, Baljit Singh, fraudulently issued SIM cards by misusing biometric data of customers.
The telephone callers, aged between 19 and 33, were recruited through recruitment portals and paid around Rs 15,000 a month in cash. “The accused took advantage of the desperation of job seekers and used their details to extort money through false promises of employment,” DCP Chauhan said.
In another similar incident, police arrested three men in north Delhi. The accused, according to officers, were involved in an interstate internet scam, where they cheated victims on the pretext of offering lucrative returns for completing online ‘tasks’. The accused, identified as Kuldeep Kushwaha, Kuldeep Singh and Rahul Chaudhary, were arrested from Agra and Jaipur after a detailed analysis of the mobile phone and banker’s routes, police said.
Police said the gang communicated with the victims via WhatsApp and Telegram, promising them quick profits in exchange for simple online tasks such as evaluating restaurants and hotels.
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“She (the victim) claimed that she received a message on WhatsApp offering her a part-time job. After she showed interest, she was added to a Telegram group and asked to rate restaurants, hotels and businesses to earn money. Later, she was directed to perform pre-paid tasks that first make payments and then generate earnings. In the process, she transferred Rs 2.96 lakh to various UPI IDs and bank accounts provided by the fraudsters,” DCP North Raja Banthia said.
Investigations revealed that the defendants are part of a network that sells and uses bank accounts to facilitate electronic fraud. The alleged leader, Arvind, based in Narnaul in Haryana, remains at large. During the raids, police recovered three mobile phones, check books, PAN cards and account opening tools linked to the racket.
Police urged citizens to be vigilant against job scams and online investment offers, advising them not to share personal information or transfer money without verifying company credentials. They also appealed to victims of cyber fraud to immediately report incidents to the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) or via http://www.cybercrime.gov.in
(Tags for translation)Online fraud rackets
