Delhi: Bogus company heads arrested for duping over 100 people
Two well-educated people were arrested for allegedly duping over 100 people by posing as representatives of a renowned job portal, police said today. The accused, Chetan Soni and Naina Singhal, both aged 27, were arrested from Ghaziabad on July 30, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal. Soni is a double MBA while Singhal has a BTech degree. Here's more.
Complaint came through Naukri.com
The legal head of Info Edge (India) Limited, the flagship company of Naukri.com, filed a complaint that some people were being cheated by using their name, Biswal said. He said that in order to protect their own reputation and to compensate the unemployed job seeker, they had to pay money to the victim to compensate for their monetary loss.
Similar domain names used by accused to lure job seekers
Info Edge's head had cited a recent case wherein one person was approached through email from career@first-naukri.com, identical to firstnaukri.com, one of the brand names of the complainant company. The victim was asked to transfer Rs. 4,650 in the account of firstnaukri.com but later that amount was transferred by the accused to some other account. A case was registered at Kalkaji police station.
Accused were caught in a raid in Ghaziabad
During the investigation, it was found that the accused were stationed in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. The bank account details in which the transactions took place were found fake. They were in the name of one Manish Kumar. The police team also procured the photo of Manish Kumar. A raid was conducted at a house Vasundhra, Ghaziabad on July 30 where Singhal and Soni were found.
Soni's photo was used in the name of Manish Kumar
Initially, the duo contended that they were self-employed and running their legitimate business from their house itself. However, when Soni was questioned about why his photograph was in the fake documents furnished for opening the account, he confessed to duping people, the DCP said.
Accused were co-workers in a consulting company in 2016
During interrogation, the accused revealed they used to work together in 2016 in a consultant firm in Greater Noida. During that period, they became friends and in order to earn quick money, they planned to cheat people. They then opened a firm in the name of M/s Strobe Group (similar to an MNC's name in USA) and registered themselves as a recruiter with Naukri.com.
Duo had adopted domain names similar to other big companies
The accused then purchased a domain name first-naukri.com and unileverindia.com, also similar to original domain names of Naukri.com and Hindustan Unilever. The leads of the genuine job seekers were received by the accused persons from Naukri.com. Later, the accused used to approach job seekers through their fake domain name first-naukri.com to make the victim believe that this lead had come from Naukri.com.
Victims had to pay some amount on pretext of security
Thereafter, the victims were offered employment with the fake jobs letters using the almost same domain name as that of the employer's company. They induced the victims to pay some amount (Rs. 4,650 to Rs. 5,450) on different pretexts like security, registration, or other expenses.
Duo was apparently well-educated with good qualifications
The accused prepared forged IDs, forged documents, and they also opened fake bank accounts. Soni completed schooling from Unnao (UP), BBA from Lucknow University and MBA in 2013 from Gautam Budh Technical University in HR and Marketing, and another MBA in 2014 from IGNOU in Tourism. Singhal did her B.ech in Computer Science from Lord Krishna College, Ghaziabad.
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