Australian citizen held for duping woman of Rs 6 lakh

Kochi: An Australian citizen was on Thursday arrested by Thadiyittaparambu police for defrauding a woman of lakhs by offering a job in Australia.The arrested person was identified as Zakiyullah Parker, 58.According to police, a woman working in the UAE lost the money. She was living in a rented house in Pukkattupadi. They met through the social media. He claimed to be the CEO of a famous company in Australia and promised her a job there.He allegedly took Rs 5.8 lakh for the job offer. When the job did not materialize, she realized it was a scam and immediately filed a police complaint. A scientific investigation revealed that the accused was in India. He moved from place to place and was found in Indore, living in a luxury flat. The flat appeared locked from outside.Through a special operation, police entered the flat and arrested him. They seized laptops, mobile phones and numerous documents from him. He was caught while preparing for a new scam with a fake Aadhaar card under the name Shubham Sharma. Investigation team included ASP Hardik Meena, inspector K N Manoj, SI N K Jacob, senior CPO K K Shibu and CPO Mithun Mohan.Gang held for fraud: Rural police on Thursday busted a gang that swindled money by claiming that the victims became eligible for huge gifts after purchase of products.Nedumbassery police arrested Delhi residents Mohammad Saad Saifi alias Shan Chaudhary, 23; Gagan Khurana, 22; Rahul Kumar, 28; Ravi Prajapati, 25; Uttar Pradesh residents Shitij Sengar alias Yuvraj Singh, 25; Ayush Mantyan, 26; Harsh Vardhan Singh Chauhan, 26; and West Bengal resident Asif Jamal, 34.Police said a 61-year-old resident of Kadungalloor was deceived with promises of special discount packages and gift vouchers for family trips to European countries. The group contacted him via phone, demanding Rs 6.5 lakh for the "huge offer", with an upfront payment of Rs 3 lakh for additional discounts. Based on this, he paid Rs 1.5 lakh. The meeting related to this transaction took place at a hotel in Nedumbassery. When no information was provided after the payment, a complaint was filed with police. The group was caught in Edathala.