Mumbai: 4 foreign nationals arrested for duping job aspirant of ₹17 lakh

The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch have arrested four foreign nationals from Pune for allegedly duping a Chembur resident to the tune of ₹17 lakh on the pretext of helping him to get a job at a hotel in Canada

The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch have arrested four foreign nationals from Pune for allegedly duping a Chembur resident to the tune of ₹17 lakh on the pretext of helping him to get a job at a hotel in Canada. Police seized four laptops, 14 mobile phones, data card, and several SIM cards, including that of international numbers, from the accused.

After scrutinising eight month’s data recovered from the laptop belonging to the accused, police found data of 27,000 people. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the police, the victim, Vishal Mandavkar, 30, lives in the Chembur area and after completing the hotel management course, he was looking for jobs abroad. While searching jobs on websites he unsuspectingly clicked on a job search link and sent his resume for the post of manager in a hotel in Canada.

One of the accused then contacted the victim on his mobile number and asked him to deposit money for visa fees, employment authorisation fees, basic travelling allowance. The victim deposited total ₹17.22 lakh in different bank accounts given by the accused in the last few months, said Bharambe.

As the accused started demanding more money to conduct RBI verification, he suspected foul play and contacted cyber police station in BKC and registered a case on January 15. Acting on his complaint, cyber police arrested the four accused from Undri area in Pune and they are in police custody.

After scrutinising eight month’s data recovered from the laptop belonging to the accused, police found data of 27,000 people and details of 64 accounts of 12 banks in India and two banks in abroad- one in Dubai and another in Nigeria.

After scanning the bank transactions police learnt that the accused had transferred amount of around ₹10 crore in two bank accounts in Nigeria and Dubai and ₹2 crores in 12 bank accounts in India, said joint commissioner of police Milind Bharambe of the crime branch.

“On further probe, we found that the accused have duped over 2,000 people in the last two years. Passports details and bank details of 2,500 people were also found from memory cards recovered from the accused.

The arrested accused identified as Ogunsakin alias Michael Olayeni, 32, Sotomiwa Oadele Ogunmoroti, 26, and Augustin Francis Williams, 22. They stayed in Undri area of Pune. The accused claimed that they came to India two years ago on education visa but while checking we found that visa of one of them had expired while other’s details are being verified, said Bharambe.

We are investigating to find out as to from where the accused obtained data of the people, said Bharambe, adding that the gang has routed money through various banks in India and drawn amounts from various places.

Advocate Tushar Lavhate, who represented Olayeni, Thompson and Ogunmoroti said, “There is no legally admissible evidence against my clients who are just students in Pune. It’s impossible to prove the charges against them in a court of law.”