4 held for fake cruise job racket in Noida had plans for second call centre in Aligarh

Noida: The four men arrested for cheating job seekers nationwide with fake employment offers on cruise were planning to flee the city and set up a second sham call centre in Aligarh when they were caught.The four — Rahul of Jalaun, Prashant of Aligarh, Vishal Sharma of Jewar, and Saif Warish of Kanpur Nagar —were arrested on Wednesday before they could execute their plan. Two of their accomplices, Faiz and Shahil alias Sachin, are still at large, with special teams deployed to trace them.
The group were allegedly operating a call centre in Sector 132, posing as recruiters for cruise ship companies. Victims were lured with promises of overseas jobs and high salaries, and made to pay over Rs 1 lakh as registration and processing fees. After receiving the money, the accused either stopped answering the calls or started demanding more fees to process the applications.Police estimate the racket cheated over 500 people from Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other states over the last year and generated around Rs 3 crore, which they routed through multiple bank accounts. Cops started tracking them after two complaints were registered against the bank accounts linked to the fraud on the NCRP portal.Investigations showed that the gang created a Facebook page in Sept 2025, offering job opportunities on cruises, cargo ships and engine vessels. Interested candidates were asked to join a group or click on a calling option, after which they were contacted by the gang. Victims were invited to the office for counselling and promised training and placement in maritime jobs. The gang charged Rs 1.2 lakh per candidate for registration, training, and placement.Police said Waris and Faiz are brothers and were responsible for collecting data of job seekers and distributing lists of around 80 contacts each to other callers.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Valentine's day wishes, messages and gift idea !