Two men dupe 356 in job scam

Mumbai: The Goregaon police has registered a case against two persons from a firm for allegedly duping up to 356 job applicants via their recruitment firm on the pretext of offering them jobs in Singapore. The accused had taken Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 from each of the job applicants, according to the police.

The duo had published an advertisement in a newspaper to lure victims, who hail from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the police said. The police registered a case on Wednesday evening against Asia International Travel’s officials Sandip Singh and Rajkumar Thakur.

Confirming the development, a senior official from Goregaon police station said, “Our investigation is on, and as of now two accused are wanted in this case.” According to the police officers, the company had, a few months ago, allegedly published vacancies for cooks, drivers, carpenters a site supervisor and domestic help in a few north Indian newspapers.

After seeing the advertisements, many youths approached the company. Later, the duo allegedly asked the youths to deposit Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 to get their visas, passports and tickets. Some of the youths deposited money in the bank and some transferred it to certain accounts that were mentioned. A few youths, owing to demonetisation and ensuing cash crisis, gave cheques to the accused. While talking to The Asian Age, a youth who hails from Bihar said that most of the victims were from lower middle class families and some had taken loans while a few had sold their houses to come with the cash.

The youths in their police complaint said that they were promised that they would be sent to Singapore in three different flights on December 21, from Mumbai airport. The youths had gathered at Mumbai international airport, where they discovered that no money was paid for the E-tickets that they were in possession of. A few other youths discovered that their visas and passports, which were taken by the Asia International, were still with it. The youths were then asked by the airport’s security agency to return.

Later, the victims approached the Goregaon police and lodged a complaint. Dinesh Singh (21), a complainant who hails from Uttar Pradesh, said, “I applied for a supervisor’s job and paid Rs 50,000 but after arriving in Mumbai I realised that these people still had my passport with them and I didn’t have my visa.” He added, “I had taken a huge loan and now I am scared.”

Despite several attempts made by The Asian Age, no one from Asian International was available for comments.