Two techies duped of 13L in job scam

Pune: Two software engineers with prominent IT companies in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad lost a total Rs12.7 lakh to cybercrooks in their attempt to secure jobs in the USA and India, respectively.Separate cases have been registered by Alankar and Pimpri police.In the first case, a techie (31) lost Rs8.60 lakh between April 24 and May 29 to the crooks after she fell for a fake advertisement on a social networking platform that offered a job with a tech company in the USA. "The woman, a resident of Erandwane, contacted the number mentioned in the advertisement and the person at the other end told her that she must pay processing fees, verification fees and other costs to get the job," senior inspector Sunita Rokade of the Alankar police said.The crook shared four bank account numbers and asked the techie to transfer varied amounts to these accounts. The victim followed his instruction, but never got the promised appointment letter. "She finally lodged a complaint with us," the officer said.The second case involved a techie from Moshi who was also promised a similar lucrative job with an IT multinational company in India and lost Rs4.10 lakh between May and Dec last year, police said.Police said in May last year, the techie received a call from a man who posed as an official from an online recruitment company and asked her to register with the company by paying Rs6,253 to process her appointment. The crook even arranged an online interview for the woman with ‘an HR executive of the IT company' in India and told her that she was selected. "They took money from the woman under the pretext of document verification, personal portfolio and top management profile," the officer said.He said, "A few days later, the crooks demanded more money from the woman, citing security deposit as the reason and assured her that she would receive an offer letter soon. When the woman did not get the offer letter, the crooks took more money from her for sending the letter again. They also promised her that she would get the letter by Dec last year. She paid a total sum of Rs 4.1 lakh," he said.