Job fraud unearthed: 2,000 duped in 2 yrs

MUMBAI: The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch have arrested four foreign nationals from Pune for allegedly duping a Chembur resident to the tune of ₹17 lakh on the pretext of helping him to get a job at a hotel in Canada. Police seized four laptops, 14 mobile phones, data card, and several SIM cards, including that of international numbers, from the accused.

According to police, the victim, Vishal Mandavkar, 30, lives in Chembur and after completing hotel management course, he was looking for jobs abroad. While searching jobs on websites, he unsuspectingly clicked on a job search link and sent his resume for the post of manager in a hotel in Canada.

One of the accused then contacted the victim on his mobile number and asked him to deposit money for visa, employment authorisation fees and basic travelling allowance. The victim deposited total ₹17.22 lakh in different bank accounts given by the accused in the last few months, said Bharambe.

As the accused started demanding more money, Mandavkar suspected foul play and registered a case on January 15.

After scrutinising data recovered from the laptop belonging to the accused, police found data of 27,000 people and details of 64 accounts.

Police learnt that the accused had transferred amount of around ₹10 crore in two bank accounts in Nigeria and Dubai and ₹2 crores in 12 bank accounts in India, said joint commissioner of police Milind Bharambe of the crime branch. “We found that the accused have duped over 2,000 people in the last two years,” he added.

Advocate Tushar Lavhate, who representing the accused said, “There is no legally admissible evidence against my clients who are just students in Pune.”