Placement fraud racket busted in Delhi; seven held for duping job seekers

Seven persons have been apprehended for allegedly operating a fake placement agency here and cheating job seekers on the pretext of providing employment, Delhi police said on Tuesday.

According to the police, the accused were running an unregistered placement agency in west Delhi’s Uttam Nagar area, and luring job aspirants through online employment portals by posing as HR executives.

The matter came to light following a complaint from a Karol Bagh resident, who alleged he had received a message from a person claiming to be an HR executive in response to an online job application.

He was called for an interview at the agency’s office in Uttam Nagar on July 25, where he was allegedly asked to pay Rs 4,800 as registration and account opening charges. He was assured that the amount would be refunded after he joined the job.

“However, neither was any job provided nor was the money refunded, and the mobile numbers used to contact him later became unreachable,” a senior officer said.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered on August 1. During the probe, police analysed mobile phone records, digital payment trails and beneficiary bank accounts before raiding the placement agency’s ‘office’ at Jeevan Park in Uttam Nagar.

“The team apprehended seven accused from the premises. They have been identified as Preeti Malhotra (34), the alleged mastermind of the racket, Divya (33), Lalita alias Pinkey (32), Naina (33), Priyanka (28), Kapil Kumar Sharma (30) and Lalit Kumar (28),” the officer said.

According to police, the accused advertised attractive job openings on online portals and contacted unemployed people through messages and phone calls while posing as HR executives. After conducting sham interviews, they allegedly collected Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 from each candidate as registration, processing and account opening charges, promising the amount would be refunded.

“The victims were neither provided jobs nor refunded the money,” the officer said.

During the investigation, police found five complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal linked to the mobile numbers and bank accounts allegedly used by the accused, indicating that more victims may have been cheated, the officer said, adding that further investigation is underway.