Job con: 3 rackets busted, 12 arrested

Ten teams were formed to investigate the matter as between January to April this year, more than 170 cases of job cons or online tasks fraud were registered across the city, deputy commissioner of police (cyber) Balsing Rajput said, adding, “In 51 cases, victims have lost more than ₹10 lakh with the total sum amounting to more than ₹5.5 crores.”

Mumbai: In a massive crackdown against the part-time jobs fraud and online tasks fraud that is becoming prevalent lately in the city, the Mumbai police raided three different locations in the last 10 days and arrested 12 people. In the raids, three separate gangs were busted, of which one gang was sending remittances to offshore accounts in Dubai and Hong Kong.

“All three gangs used to operate out of office spaces for very short durations. These companies were made based on fake Aadhar and PAN cards,” Rajput said. “They would also hire support staff for these short durations and make it seem like a legit workplace, while they ran these cyber fraud rackets.” (HT PHOTO)

The accused have been identified as Milind Appa Shetye, 55, Gaurbahadur Amar Singh, 52, Santosh Appa Shetye, 48, Laxman Saianna Seema, 37, Shagufta Saleem Khan, Tushar Prakash Ajwani, 38, Sneh Mahaveer Prasad Shaktawat aka Aditya Jain, 24, Mahaveersingh Kishansingh Daroga aka Roshan, 22, Devkishan Ramswaroop Gurjar, 27, Kalpesh Gunaji Mendhekar, 27, Manoj Chandrakant Nerulkar, 38 and Subhash Anant Nagam, 45.

Ten teams were formed to investigate the matter as between January to April this year, more than 170 cases of job cons or online tasks fraud were registered across the city, deputy commissioner of police (cyber) Balsing Rajput said, adding, “In 51 cases, victims have lost more than ₹10 lakh with the total sum amounting to more than ₹5.5 crores.”

“All three gangs used to operate out of office spaces for very short durations. These companies were made based on fake Aadhar and PAN cards,” Rajput said. “They would also hire support staff for these short durations and make it seem like a legit workplace, while they ran these cyber fraud rackets.”

First case

On April 10, a case was registered at the south division of cyber police where a Colaba resident lost over ₹25 lakh. “Eight places were raided where we found several mobile phones through which these frauds were done. We also found several forged documents of shell companies based on which they held 180 fake accounts in various banks where the defrauded money would be parked,” said Rajput.

The team arrested six people from two offices in the western suburbs and they are currently in judicial custody, he said, adding, “The main accused Andheri resident Tushar Ajwani, 38, was found to be running six different office spaces under him. The bank accounts belonging to these operatives had ₹25 crore and all of them have been frozen.”

Second case

On April 1, the east division of Mumbai cyber police registered a case where a Chembur resident lost ₹27 lakh. The cops unearthed that the gang was operating from Mira Road, Bhayandar and Thane and raided these locations. Three people – all residents of Rajasthan – were arrested in the matter.

Third case

On February 10, a case was registered after a Ghatkopar resident lost ₹10 lakh to a part-time job fraud. The police nabbed three Jogeshwari residents working out of an office in Andheri East. “This gang had even got themselves an import-export license from the Government of India for the shell companies that they had floated. We also found proof of them having made at least 14 such companies in the recent past,” said Rajput.

As per the police, the third gang also had accounts in overseas accounts and there are 25 transactions where the money was sent to banks operating in Dubai and Hong Kong.

DCP Rajput said that all these arrests would lead to more people from their respective gangs being arrested as well.