The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) broke a job fraud ring on Saturday by capturing the ringleader in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Up to 50,000 candidates were allegedly defrauded by the scheme in five states, including Odisha. Zafar Ahmed, a 25-year-old Aligarh resident and the apprehended suspect, is a professional engineer (B Tech), according to a news release from the EOW. Through a bogus government website, the scam victimised candidates for Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Odisha while it was operating out of Aligarh.
The EOW learned that at least 50,000 job hopefuls have been deceived from early estimations. The EOW also learned throughout its investigation that an extremely tech-savvy engineer from Uttar Pradesh was running the ring, assisted by several knowledgeable website designers. Aside from this, personnel of over 50 call centres were also complicit in the scam. They were paid Rs 15,000 per month to labour there.
By Bidisha Mohanty
