Job seeker duped of `10L
The DB Marg police is on the lookout for a gang of cyber fraudsters who duped a Grant Road resident of over `10 lakh on the pretext of giving him a job in a renowned London-based hotel. The police said the gang members hacked into the job portal with which the victim had registered, and then posed as officials from a London hotel to carry out the fraud.
The crooks also posed as officials from the immigration department and made the victim deposit money into various bank accounts on the pretext of processing his visa and other required certificates.
According to the police, complainant Kumar Ramkrishnan Aiyer (46), was working as a commercial manager with Logic Plastic Pvt Ltd in Daman, when in May last year he submitted an application on a job portal for a job in Hilton International Hotel Limited, London.
“After a few days Mr Aiyer received an e-mail from hiltonhotelresort-@w.cn that stated that he had been selected for the post of account executive in the hotel and he would get a monthly salary of £5,200 (`4,73,200). He was also informed that he would be given the job licence only for two years and it would be renewed after reviewing his job performance. Mr Aiyer was also promised that the hotel would provide him accommodation in London and would also pay for his air travel,” said an officer.
A few days later, Mr Aiyer again received e-mail from the hotel and was asked to contact one Peter Beckingham, who directed him to deposit `23,500 in the company’s account as visa fees. Mr Aiyer was also asked to get an Anti-Terrorist Certificate from the British High Commission.
Later, on various occasions and on various pretexts, including the visa stamping process and immigration clearance certificate, Mr Aiyer was asked to deposit money in different bank accounts. “He deposited a total of `10,09,620 in different accounts and during this time he was in touch with at least three foreign nationals, who identified themselves as Peter Beckingham, Fred Douglas and Dr Terry Wood. To gain the complainant’s trust, the accused also sent him visa of the United Kingdom. They spoke to him on the phone and used e-mails for communication, but never appeared physically to avoid arrest. Later, they cut off all communication with Mr Aiyer and his visa also turned out to be bogus. Mr Aiyer then recently approached the DB Marg police.
“We have registered the offence under various sections of cheating and forgery and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and are investigating the matter,” said API Dilip Patil.
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