Conmen booked for posing as MNC officials offering jobs in lieu of ₹1.5 lakh referral fee

A victim said he got suspicious when the accused switched off their phones and stopped correspondence over email.

In June this year, a 34-year-old IT professional saw a job posting on an online portal for the finance and IT profile in a multi-national company (MNC) and called on the phone number mentioned. Over the next few days, he was telephonically informed about the work profile and CTC by a person posing as an official of the MNC. He was interviewed over the phone and was asked to submit all relevant documents including educational qualifications, past experience and salary slips. Later, he was told that he fit the profile and was sent an appointment letter over the email asking him to join in September. There was one caveat—he had to pay Rs1.5 lakh as referral fee after he received the offer letter. Offer letter in hand, the man paid up and all was well till a few weeks later, when he realised that he had been duped.

Conmen have been booked in Gurugram for posing as MNC officials.

“I thought it was all genuine. They asked for all the documents, asked the right technical questions in the interview and the offer letter had the company logo. I was called to the company’s office where I met a woman in the foyer who told me about the challenges I was expected to face at work. I put in my papers and was looking forward to joining the company. I mortgaged my mother’s jewellery to pay the money,” the victim said, adding that he got suspicious when the accused switched off their phones and stopped correspondence over email.

The scam came to light when the victim and his friend approached the MNC’s office in Gurugram to verify the recruitment related correspondences and were told that they were not from the company. However, an FIR was registered against unknown persons at Cyber Crime police station on Saturday after a complaint was registered by the company’s authorised signatory.

The complainant, when contacted, said that he could not comment on the scale of the alleged job fraud to which at least a handful of people had fallen prey.

The victim quoted above added that his friend had also quit his previous job after he was conned in the same scam.

Another victim, 28, requesting anonymity, said that she was looking for a job after completing her MBA and saw a job posting in the same company. “The accused claimed to be from the human resources department of the company. I was told that since this job was only through ‘referral’, I would have to pay Rs1.5 lakh in cash. I was skeptical since they were asking for money and insisted on cash payment. I checked with the company and realised that it was a scam,” she said.

A police official privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said that police is investigating the case and that no person(s) had been arrested so far.

A case was registered against unidentified accused persons under sections 66 C and 66 D of the Information Technology Act and Section 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code at Cyber Crime police station on Saturday.