Three men who were allegedly running a fake aviation academy in New Town were arrested early on Tuesday for allegedly duping a woman of Rs 1.5 lakh by promising her the job of an air hostess, police said.

The accused have been identified as Kushwant Singh, 26, from Jharkhand; Rohit Singh, 25, from Madhyamgram; and Janmanjoy Roy, 27, from New Barrackpore. “They were operating 07 Bird Link Aviation Academy, a fake unit, on the fourth floor of Astra Tower in New Town,” an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.

“They were arrested after a woman, a resident of New Town’s Action Area II, lodged a complaint with the airport police station five days ago,” the officer said.

According to the complaint, the trio had taken Rs 1.5 lakh from her for an air hostess’s job. They had also allegedly handed over an “offer letter” from the airline.

Another investigating officer said the men would regularly 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/her to their New Town office. In this case, the men had collected a part of the money from the woman in front of the airport to make it look authentic,” said the officer.

When she did not receive an appointment letter, the woman visited the airline’s office with the “offer letter” and was told that the letter was fake. “We have arrested all three owners of the institute. We are finding out whether they had duped others and whether they have criminal antecedents,” said the officer.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the IPC, including 420 (cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).

If convicted, they can be jailed for seven years.