The Delhi Police busted an illegal call centre operating an online job scam targeting job seekers by posing as recruiters and luring them into making payments, an official said on Thursday. Police have arrested 14 people, including the kingpin, they said.  According to police, the accused lured the victims into making payments for various fictitious processes like training, documentation and kit delivery, he added. The action followed a complaint filed by a woman who had uploaded her resume on Shine.Com and Naukri.Com in January while seeking a job in the medical field. On January 27, she received a call from a woman identifying herself as Priya, who offered her a job and sought Rs 500 as a refundable security deposit, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said. The DCP said, after transferring the amount, Priya was contacted by a man named Atul, who conducted a telephonic interview and demanded Rs 3,999 for training. Over the next few days, the complainant was made to pay an additional Rs 7,500 for document verification, Rs 7,250 for dispatching a work kit, and was eventually asked for Rs 11,000 for salary account processing. Her suspicions were aroused by the final demand, and she refused to pay further. Realising she had been cheated, she approached the cyber cell, the officer said. A case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and an investigation was launched. The trail led police to ATM CCTV footage in Noida, where a masked suspect was seen withdrawing cash from the victims payment. Using technical surveillance, including call detail records and IP logs from Shine.Com, police zeroed in on a recruiter who matched the suspects profile. Further monitoring revealed he was operating from a building in Sector-3, Noida, police said in a statement. On May 14, a raid was carried out at the site by the Delhi Police, with local police assistance, leading to the arrest of Fahiq Siddiqui along with six other men and six women, all found operating the illegal call centre. Police said Siddiqui confessed to the crime. Another accused, Mohit Kumar, was arrested near Laxmi Nagar Metro Station. He allegedly provided bank accounts and SIM cards used in the scam, police said. During the raid, police seized eight laptops, 47 mobile phones, 57 SIM cards, 15 debit cards, two Wi-Fi dongles and Rs 1,31,500 in cash, he added. The accused had allegedly purchased premium recruiter accounts on job portals and accessed profiles of job seekers to initiate contact. The scams reach is believed to be pan-India, and details of the seized SIM cards and numbers are being sent to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) for further analysis, the DCP said. Further investigation in the case is underway, the DCP added.

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