Delhi Police have busted a fraudulent job racket and arrested nine individuals, including the mastermind, an employee of a Telecom Service Provider (TSP) and seven women telecallers who were operating an illegal call centre.. The accused posed as recruiters on job portals and deceived job seekers by offering fake employment opportunities in Indigo Airlines, Victims were defrauded under the pretext of processing fees and other fabricated charges, During investigation, over 40 complaints were found linked to the accused persons on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).A total of 23 electronic devices, 19 SIM cards, QR Codes of bank accountsand a Wi-Fi router used in the commission of the offence were recovered from their possession., 8 UPI IDs linked with various bank accounts which were used to get the cheated amount having similar name of Indigo Airlines (indigoavations@okaxis, avationair3521@oksbi, etc.) 

Face2News/New Delhi

In a major crackdown on cyber fraud, the Cyber Police Station, South District, Delhi has busted a fraudulent job racket operating from West Delhi. The operation led to the arrest of nine accused persons, including the mastermind, Vikash Kumar @ Vickey, his associate Baljeet Singh (an employee of a Telecom Service Provider) and seven female telecallers involved in duping job seekers through fake employment advertisements on OLX and telephonic interviews conducted in the name of reputed companies such as IndiGo Airlines.

The accused identified as Vikash Kumar @ Vickey S/o Mahipal Singh R/o Subhash Nagar, West Delhi Age 38yrs, Edu. Graduate, one previous involvement,  Baljeet Singh S/o Satish Saini, Age 31 yrs, R/o Chander Vihar, Delhi, Occupation Telecome company, Edu. Graduate, Charanjit @ Charu D/o Late Satish Saini, Age 29 yrs, R/o Nilothi Extension, West Delhi, Edu. Graduate (B. Com), Shalini Bhardwaj D/o Anil Kumar, Age 33 yrs, R/o Uttam Nagar, West Delhi. Edu. 12th pass, one previous involvement,  Aarti Kaur D/o Manoj Singh, Age 19 yrs, R/o Chander Vihar, Nilothi, West Delhi, Edu. B. Com 2nd Year., Palveen Kaur, D/o Manjeet Singh, Age 19 yrs, R/o Chander Vihar, Nilothi Extension, New Delhi. Edu. B. Com 2nd Year.  Nandini, D/o Raj Karan, Age 24 yrs, R/o NihalVihar, Nangloi, West Delhi, Edu. 12th pass
8. Pooja Gupta, D/o Munna Lal Gupta, Age 21 yrs, R/o Geetanjali Park, West Sagarpur, West Delhi., Edu. B.A.  Shweta @ Shivani Singh, D/o Late Suraj Singh, Age 21 yrs, R/o Durga Colony, Sagarpur, West Delhi, Edu. 12th pass.
 
A complaint was received from Sh. Amarjeet Yadav via NCRP Portal (Ack. No. 308102500851), wherein he alleged that while searching for a job on OLX, he was contacted through mobile numbers 7428470838 and 9557831228 and was cheated of ₹11,000/- on the pretext of providing uniforms and accessories for an airport job in Indigo Airlines.

Mr. Ankit Chauhan, IPS, DCP, South Distt., said, further investigation revealed that accused Baljeet Singh, employed as Second In-Chargeat a store of a Telecom Service Provider in Vikaspuri, played a crucial role in facilitating the racket. When genuine customers visited the store with SIM-related issues, he deceitfully informed them that their biometrics were not properly verified. Using this pretext, he captured their biometric data again and fraudulently issued new SIM cards in their names, which were subsequently provided to the fraudsters for use in the fake call centre operations.

TEAM & INVESTIGATION: A dedicated team was constituted under the supervision of Sh. Arvind Kumar, ACP/Operations, and leadership of Inspector Hansraj Swami, SHO/Cyber South. The team comprised Insp. Hansa Ram, SI Udai Singh, HC Vikash, HC Praveen,HC Rakesh, HC Tarun, W/HC Suner, W/HC Pooja and Ct Praveen.

During the course of investigation, a detailed technical analysis was conducted. Based on technical footprints, the suspect’s location was traced precisely to Subhash Nagar Tilak Nagar area. A raid was subsequently conducted, resulting in the arrest of the kingpin, Vikash Kumar @ Vickey S/o Mahipal Singh, R/o Subhash Nagar, West Delhi, aged 38 years. From his possession, five mobile phones were recovered, including the handsets linked with fraudulent bank accounts and used for communicating with victims.

On sustained interrogation, accused Vikash Kumar disclosed details of a fake job call centre being operated in collaboration with his associates. Acting swiftly, the police team conducted a follow-up raid at Ganesh Nagar, Tilak Nagar, where seven female telecallers were found engaged in contacting victims and offering fake employment opportunities in the name of reputed companies.

The telecallers had been recruited through online job portals such as ‘Job Hai’ and ‘Work India’ and were being paid ₹15,000/- per month in cash. They were actively involved in calling, convincing and collecting personal details of job seekers. All seven women were apprehended on the spot.

During further investigation, it was revealed that the SIM cards used in the fake job racket had been issued from a store of a Telecom Service Provider located in Vikaspuri. The investigation team visited the store and found that Baljeet Singh S/o Satish Saini (Age 31 years, R/o Chander Vihar, Delhi, employed as Second Incharge had fraudulently issued multiple SIM cards by misusing the biometric data of customers who visiting the store.

RECOVERY: From the possession of the accused and the fake call centre, the following items were recovered:
• 22 mobile phones (personal and calling phones). • 01 desktop computer used for data management and call records. • Call scripts and registers used for maintaining job applicant details. • 04 used SIM Cards. • 15 pre-activated SIM Cards. • WiFi router • 08 UPI IDs and QR Codes of bank accountsused to collect cheated amount

LINKAGE TO MORE VICTIMS : Further technical analysis revealed that the IMEI numbers and mobile connections used by the arrested accused persons are linked to more than 40 separate complaints registered across different states. These pertain to similar job frauds, confirming that the accused were part of a larger organized cyber fraud network targeting unemployed youth through online job advertisements

MODUS OPERANDI : The accused Vikash Kumar @ Vickey along with his associates Surajand Kapil had established a fake job call centre at Ganesh Nagar, West Delhi, where several telecallers were employed. They used to post advertisements on OLX, falsely claiming to offer employment opportunities in the airline sector. When job seekers responded to these advertisements through the mobile numbers mentioned therein, the telecallers, impersonating employees of reputed airline companies, duped innocent and needy persons under the pretext of providing jobs. The call centre was running since one year.

The telecallers were provided with a pre-drafted script and were instructed to converse with the victims in a manner that created an impression that they were official representatives of reputed airline companies. During these conversations, the victims were induced to make payments through QR Codes managed by accused Kapil, in multiple stages under various false pretexts.

In the first stage, the victims were asked to deposit a security amount of ₹2,500/-.
In the second stage, they were asked to pay an additional sum ranging between ₹5,000/- to ₹8,000/- towards the cost of uniforms and shoes for the supposed job.
In the third stage, after falsely confirming the job, the accused demanded another amount ranging from ₹10,000/- to ₹15,000/- under the pretext of opening a salary account.

The accused primarily targeted needy job seekers and collected small amounts from multiple victims. Owing to the petty nature of these amounts, most victims refrained from lodging complaints, which the fraudsters exploited to continue their illegal activities uninterrupted for over one year.

Mr. Ankit Chauhan, IPS, DCP, South Distt., said, further investigation revealed that accused Baljeet Singh, employed as Second In-Chargeat a store of a Telecom Service Provider in Vikaspuri, played a crucial role in facilitating the racket. When genuine customers visited the store with SIM-related issues, he deceitfully informed them that their biometrics were not properly verified. Using this pretext, he captured their biometric data again and fraudulently issued new SIM cards in their names, which were subsequently provided to the fraudsters for use in the fake call centre operations.

Investigation of the case is in progress. More victims of the accused persons are being identified. Other members of the nexus are being traced.