Twelve employees and 2 “directors” of a fraud “aviation placement agency” were arrested following a raid at their office on Monday morning.
According to officers, the agency has cheated hundreds of youths by promising them jobs in airlines.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said the agency called “Blue Aviation Services (P) Ltd” had an office in Spencer’s Building near City Centre II and the raid was conducted on the basis of a complaint lodged by a job aspirant.
Among the arrested, Arun Shokeen and Aditi Badraika were identified as the ‘directors’ of the agency. The rest were employees.
An officer said that those running the centre would pose as ‘consultants’ engaged to hire people for various airlines. They would also post advertisements on social media and send bulk text messages.
“Once a person responded, they would call him or her to the office. They would take anything between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for a job in airlines,” said the officer.
The agency that was active for more than six months would also hand out fake appointment letters to job seekers. Officers are now trying to find out the exact number of people duped by the agency.
“The agency, it seems, has managed to dupe people by the hundreds. We are also probing if there were others involved in this case,” said an officer.