Fashion designer dupes people by offering modelling jobs for kids, arrested

“After she took the contact details and names of the people, she used to share the same with the frauds,” said Rohini Jagtap, police sub-inspector of Andheri police station

Mumbai: A fashion designer has been arrested for allegedly being part of a racket that cheated people by posing as Reliance Entertainment executives, and promising acting and modelling assignments for their children. In return, they would extract money from the victims.

The arrested woman, Mausami Nimichand Maiti, 21, is a resident of Tilak Nagar in Chembur. According to the police, Maiti had done fashion designing at SNDT College and was searching for work. (HT)

The Andheri police said, the fashion designer not only gave her bank accounts to be used by frauds for transferring defrauded amounts, she, along with them visited several malls in the city, and took contact details of the families with children, posing as Reliance Entertainment executives, claiming that they were looking for children for modelling assignments.

The arrested woman, Mausami Nimichand Maiti, 21, is a resident of Tilak Nagar in Chembur. According to the police, Maiti had done fashion designing at SNDT College and was searching for work.

“She informed us that after joining the company, they told her that she will be working from home and will have to only visit malls on weekends and take details of families promising modelling assignments for their children,” said a police officer.

“After she took the contact details and names of the people, she used to share the same with the frauds,” said Rohini Jagtap, police sub-inspector of Andheri police station.

“Maiti had opened several bank accounts and even shared via courier her cheque book and debit cards to the frauds, who used the same to withdraw defrauded amounts. She had also provided the frauds with SIM cards,” said deputy commissioner of police, Mahesh Reddy, Zone X.

Reddy said, through her bank account used by the frauds, she was traced and their quick action helped freeze ₹2.2 lakh in her bank account.

Jagtap said they have got further leads and are trying to trace the other accused who operate from various states.

The Andheri police investigation started after a 32-year-old woman from J B Nagar in Andheri was cheated to the tune of ₹3.5 lakh by frauds, who posed as executives of the entertainment company, looking for child models. Police officials said the accused had circulated a link and invited children for modelling projects. After the woman clicked on the link, they took money from her under various pretexts, like charges for creating her daughter’s portfolio, costumes deposit etc.