The police have arrested three persons for allegedly cheating around 400 people of an estimated Rs. 25 crore through a fake Internet work-from-home job scheme.
The Central Crime Branch police arrested the main accused R.P. Umadevi (40) in Ooty where she had been holed up. She is a resident of Baba Saheb Palya near Kengeri here. The other arrests are that of Umesh Shridhar (53) and Mohan Kumar (25), both living near Kengeri.
The police said the trio floated a company, S.S Enterprise, in 2007, which offered work-from-home options for a fee. They allegedly collected fees ranging from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 32,000 from around 400 gullible people for the job ID. The victims, who fell prey to the fake scheme, were told they had to click on the ads appearing on the Click Thru Networks website, which would earn them Re. 1 per click. The victims had been promised at least Rs. 6,000 a month.
The trio is said to have raked Rs. 25 crore since 2007. One of those cheated had filed a complaint with the Kengeri police on February 23.