The Vikhroli police has busted a fake job racket in which a two-member team allegedly duped more than 500 youngsters by promising them employment.
Markand Yerande and Sandesh Gupta, the accused, are postgraduates with degrees in management and marketing, the police said. They added that Gupta’s wife is also involved in the fraud but is yet to be arrested. The duo has cheated more than 500 people in different suburban areas and some more members will get arrested in the future, they said.
The duo used to lure people by launching job websites in order to attract people looking for employment. The victims were asked to submit their resumes and pay registration fees.
The aspirants were asked to pay up anything between Rs 1,500 and Rs 50,000 on some or the other pretext, the police said.
The police learnt about the scam after they received three complaints of cheating from three youngsters between September and October. “Our team began tracking down the accused through the websites and the address that they had given to the victims. Though the websites were closed down, we managed to find out their address. Our team then visited the place and arrested the accused,” said investigation officer Charu Bharati.
“When the victims didn’t get job offers, they sought refund from the accused. However, the accused shut down their websites and even changed their offices in the suburban areas.
“It was their modus operandi wherein they used to start new websites and open new offices at a different place to escape being caught,” he added.
