Engineer scams 300 job seekers in 5 months

A Lucknow engineer, arrested for a job scam, defrauded 300 job seekers in five months post-release, charging up to ₹40,000 each. Two accomplices remain at large.

LUCKNOW: A man who was arrested on Tuesday for running a job racket from a fake call centre in Indira Nagar in Lucknow scammed as many as 300 people from many parts of the country in just five months of his release from jail, police said.

The accused is an engineer by profession. He, with the help of his aides, targeted unemployed individuals, particularly from South India. (For representation)

The accused is an engineer by profession. He, with the help of his aides, targeted unemployed individuals, particularly from South India.

Cyber cell inspector Satish Chandra Sahu said, “The accused was released from jail in May this year. He then opened a call centre and cheated 300 unemployed persons.”

Even though police were able to arrest him, his two friends Vipul Tiwari and Ashish, both from Hardoi, with whom he ran the call centre remained at large.

“The engineer had hired 22 young women and paid them ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 per month,” said Amit Kumawat, Additional DCP (Crime).

ACP (Cybercrime) Abhinav Kumar stated that the accused had been operating the fraudulent call centre since last year. “Their operation involved extracting mobile numbers from websites like Naukri.com and Monster, which led the telecallers to contact job seekers,” said the police press note.

“The women would put the job seekers on the line with the engineer, who would then persuade them with his fluent English. Following this, he would charge the individuals between ₹30,000 to ₹40,000, or even more, for registration, medical exams, and other fees. He reportedly swindled lakhs of rupees, transferring money through various bank accounts and apps,” said the ACP.