“Want a high-paying salary with world-class perks?”
“Come, jump-start your career with us.”
Social media advertisements and teasers like these were allegedly being used by a Sector V-based “placement agency” to dupe thousands of job seekers by taking money from them with the false promise of getting them jobs in various companies.
Operating out of an office in Sector V’s Godrej Genesis building, Stairs Academy of Competitive Aspirant (P) Ltd looked like a corporate office, said officers from the Salt Lake cyber crime police station who raided it on Thursday morning.
A job seeker from Uttarakhand lodged a complaint with the Salt Lake cyber crime police station a few days back, based on which the police conducted the raid.
“All the arrested accused would first source the profiles and contact details of job seekers from across the country through various ways, including websites that list jobs and let people upload their resumes so that employers can connect with them. They would then make calls to them and tell them that they can get them placed in well-known companies for a fee,” said the officer.
In order to appear legitimate and gain the trust of their victims, the callers would often call them to the Sector V office where an “interview” would be conducted, the officer said. Fake appointment letters of various IT majors would be handed out, he said.
Once the victim was made to sit for the “interview” and handed an “appointment letter”, he or she would allegedly be asked to pay a “placement fee”.
After the payment was completed, the victims would realise they had been conned because calls to the centre yielded no results, the office said.
The “agency” followed a dress code and employees wore business formals and suits to gain the trust of job seekers, an officer who was part of the team that raided the office said.
“We have raided several so-called placement agencies that were involved in duping people. This one was very well organised, so it was difficult for job seekers to realise that it was actually duping them,” said the officer.
All the 27 arrested were produced in court in Salt Lake on Thursday, the police said.
Five of them were sent to police remand for four days and the rest to jail custody for 14 days.
This is the third allegedly fraudulent “placement agency” that the police have shut down in the past three weeks.