Fraudsters have reportedly created fake online job portals announcing openings in well-known automobile and computer firms and cheated aspirants of large sums of money.
Sources with the Central Crime Branch of the city police are probing over ten complaints received recently at the office of the commissioner of police.
“The fraudsters have created online portals with links regarding vacancies in firms like Hyundai Motors and other well-known companies. Entry-level jobs to executive positions were advertised. Many youngsters responded through e-mail,” said an investigating officer with the CCB.
The fraudsters contacted the victims on phone numbers furnished in the resumes, and posed as human resource executives. In many cases, the fraudsters gained trust by advising them to make changes in the resume to make it professional. After three or four interactions over the phone, the culprits assessed the interest levels of the aspirants.
“In one case, the culprit told the aspirant that he was selected for a job in Hyundai Motors and that he had to pay a caution deposit and some other payments towards employee benefit to an online bank account. He e-mailed him a fake appointment order on the company letterhead. Later, on several occasions, the victim paid a sum of Rs. 7 lakh, which the culprit appropriated,” the CCB officer added.
A preliminary probe has revealed that the other victims had lost over Rs. 4 lakh each in a similar fashion and had approached the police after the fraudsters terminated contact with them. CCB investigators are probing the cases to ascertain if it is the work of different individuals or a gang and are attempting to track the websites with deceptive job links, sources added.
The city police have advised the general public to refrain from furnishing their personal details on unauthorised websites and not to trust phone calls from individuals who claim to be from established business houses. They are advised to get the contact details from the websites of the firms concerned before making a job application.
