Gang lures targets with job offers on cruise, 5 arrested

Noida: Five persons, all members of a fake call centre that cheated job aspirants by promising them one on a cruise, were arrested on Saturday. The centre was running out of iThum Tower in Sector 62. Cops have seized several laptops, mobiles and seals from the spot. Two accomplices are absconding, said cops.The scam came to light when a 25-year-old Jaipur resident filed a complaint after losing Rs 50,000 to the gang. The arrested accused are Ankit Singh (28) from Unnao, Ariba (22) from Amroha, Yavendra Singh (28) from Rampur, Durgesh Yadav (30) from Sultanpur, and Badal (21) from Ghaziabad. The operation had been running from a rented office for the past six months.According to Additional ACP (Noida) Manish Mishra, the complainant had responded to a social media job advertisement and contacted the provided number, leading him to communicate with someone named Akash. Posing as a recruiter, Akash conducted an online interview on May 31, 2024, and informed the victim that he had secured a job on a Mumbai-to-Goa cruise. The complainant was asked to pay Rs 11,000 for a medical test, which he transferred to Ankit Singh on June 10, 2024.Mishra added that a few days later, the complainant was asked for an additional Rs 38,600 to cover the cost of official documents required for the cruise job, such as the seafarer's identity document (SID), standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping (STCW), continuous discharge certificate (CDC), and visa processing. After transferring the amount, he received a forged offer letter and medical test documents, but no information regarding the job's joining date.When the complainant's inquiries were repeatedly met with excuses, he filed a police complaint on Sept 20. Following an investigation, the arrests were made.SHO Amit Kumar stated that various electronic devices, forged documents, including SID and CDC cards, and stamp seals were seized during the raid. The accused have been booked under sections of the IPC and the IT Act. The police are still searching for the two absconding accomplices, Akash and Akanksha Pandey. Efforts to arrest them are ongoing.On July 1, TOI reported on a similar sham call centre whose employees sent out voicemails to American citizens impersonating US marshals was unearthed in police raid.According to police, the youths were at work when they raided the centre and seized 73 computer sets, 14 phones, Rs 48,000 cash, and 58 printouts of a script that the staff would read out to their targets.An FIR against the accused was registered under relevant sections of IPC.
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