Cons offer jobs on cruise, cheat many; 6 arrested

Noida: Police busted a call centre and arrested six people, including the gang's ringleader, for allegedly cheating people under the pretext of securing them jobs on a cruise. The gang has defrauded around 350 people of roughly Rs 1.5 crore, police said. A search is on for the accused's accomplices.Acting on a confidential tip-off, Sector 113 police spotted two suspicious individuals during a routine check near Mahadev Apartments in Sector 73. Upon seeing the cops, the accused fled into Anthurium Business Park. Police gave chase and apprehended the duo, along with four women, from an office space on the eighth floor of the building. The accused had been operating the fake call centre out of the space, which they had rented for Rs 50,000 per month under the name ‘M/s Recruit Service'.According to ADCP (Noida) Manisha Singh, the accused were identified as Sarim Khan, Shoaib Khan, Ritika, Khushi alias Khushboo, Mantasha Abbasi and Fatima.Interrogation revealed that Sarim, who is a BCom graduate, is the ringleader of the gang. Sarim had rented the premises to establish a call centre. The gang would advertise their services on social media platforms under the banner ‘We Are Hiring'. When interested candidates reached out, Mantasha, an MBA graduate, and Khushi, a BBA graduate, handled the communication. Shoaib, Ritika, and Fatima were responsible for facilitating the registration process and collecting fees.Under the guise of securing employment, they instructed victims to deposit amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh into several bank accounts. They would then stall and evade their victims. When the victims tried to contact them, the accused would block them, break the SIM cards used in the crime and discard them.Sector 113 SHO Vipin Kumar said that cops recovered five monitors, five CPUs, two SIM cards, an ATM card, seven mobile phones, one laptop, one router, two cheque books and several other items from the spot. Further investigation is underway.