Fake friendship racket busted, 18 arrested

Eighteen people, including 16 women, were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police for their alleged role in being associated with a fake friendship club and massage training centre in the Capital, the police said on Saturday.

Eighteen people, including 16 women, were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police for their alleged role in being associated with a fake friendship club and massage training centre in the Capital, the police said on Saturday.

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Ashok Chand, deputy commissioner of police (crime) said 28-year-old Surender, Nitesh Kumar, 24, and 16 women were arrested on Friday for allegedly duping clients from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The police also recovered a laptop, 30 mobile phones, 16 registers, diary, 24 debit cards and 3 forged voter ID cards from their possession.

“They had advertised in daily newspapers and given the telephone numbers on which they could be contacted. The racketeers exploited human frailties and were able to manage the racket successfully,” DCP Chand said.

Discussing the modus operandi of the 'VIP Friendship Club', the DCP said, “On receiving a call from a potential customer, they would tell the caller that he would have to register himself by paying an initial amount ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,000.”

“These girls continued fleecing the caller on one pretext or the other till he became suspicious and started questioning them. When this happened, they would stop answering the particular customer's calls,” Chand said.

“To elicit callers to join the fake massage parlour training centre, the gang members not only offered to teach them how to become a masseur, but also assured to provide them a list of clients so that they could start earning.”

“The gang was operating 24 bank accounts across nine banks. All the bank accounts have been opened on fake documents. The average earning per day was to the tune of Rs 50,000,” the DCP said.