On Monday, the Delhi Police apprehended seven individuals and dismantled an operation that had defrauded more than 1,000 people with promises of facilitating visas for travel to Gulf countries or Malaysia. The breakthrough was achieved by the Delhi Police Cyber Cell’s Crime Branch team, and Special Commissioner of Police (CP) Ravindra Yadav conveyed this information during a press conference today.
The team responsible for the arrests included DCP Ankit Singh, ACP Prabhat, and Inspector Virendra. One of the apprehended individuals, Inamul Haq, was identified as the mastermind of the fraudulent scheme, originally from Darbhanga in Bihar. It is worth noting that one of Haq’s relatives had previously been linked to the Indian Mujahideen, according to the police.
Special CP Ravindra Yadav disclosed that at least 1,000 individuals had fallen victim to the scam, with the perpetrators utilizing counterfeit Aadhar cards. Haq, who had abandoned his engineering studies at Kurukshetra University, was drawn into this illicit operation, as shared by Special CP Yadav during the press conference. The majority of the victims hailed from Kerala and the southern regions of India.
Regarding the gang’s modus operandi, Special CP (Crime) stated, “The suspects would establish a front office in a prime location in Delhi, where they employed two to three people to create the impression of a reputable company capable of arranging visas for Gulf countries or Malaysia.”
“The gang members, namely Tabish Hashmi, Mohammad Tabrez Alam, Tariq Shams, and Ikram Mozafar would make phone calls from a call center and post the company’s profile on job websites to identify individuals seeking to travel to Gulf countries,” Special CP Yadav explained.
Expanding on their methods, the Special CP described how the gang would cold-call potential victims. If successful, they would direct them to their Delhi office and charge a fee of Rs 60,000 per person within two to three months. Subsequently, the gang would close down their offices and repeat the process from a different location. This fraudulent operation had been ongoing for the past four to five years, according to the police.
DCP Ankit noted, “Such fraudsters would register themselves as a legitimate firm because online job portals lack effective checks. They often registered their companies under the names of established businesses based in Dubai.”
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