Arunachal: Special Investigation Team arrests two for cheating job aspirants

Arunachal Pradesh's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested a husband and wife from West Bengal for allegedly running fake job recruitment on social media and duping several job aspirants.

Both of them have been identified as Subhasish Mistri, 26, and his wife Mampi Banerjee, residents of Baranagar, 24 North Parganas district, Barrackpore.

Rohit Rajbeer Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), SIT informed that the case came to light when a written complaint was received from Itanagar-based Surjyaditya Banerjee, alleging that somewhere in the month of September he had come across an airport job advertisement on Facebook and applied for the same.

“He contacted one unknown lady over the phone whose number was flashed in the advertisement and followed the procedure as directed and lastly got cheated by them. The complainant had paid a total amount of Rs 20,775 into their account on various dates through UPI and in return received an appointment letter and various documents from them which were later found to be fake. Hence, a case FIR No 12/22 U/S 420/468/471 IPC R/W Sec 66D IT Act was registered and an investigation was taken up,” the SP added.

Calling it a well-thought-out and executed scam with inter-state linkage, the SP further informed that a team led by Inspector Padi Nikang and assisted by HC G L Ray, Cts Gautam Barman, and C Chakap and L/Ct Leena Tallong was formed to tackle the same, under the guidance of OC SIT N Lali and Dy SP SIT M Basar Kamdak.

“Upon interrogation, it was revealed that the accused formerly used to work in a BPO company in Kolkata dealing with mobile tower installations, and during peer interactions, he got the idea of running a fraudulent campaign for recruitment purposes, in the month of September 2021. He then opened a fake Facebook account in the name of ‘Sunanda Saikia’. He then made one airport job advertisement and after some editing, posted it on Facebook in the month of October-November 2021 mentioning his mobile number for job query purposes. He also browsed YouTube videos, and then after generating information, downloaded two Apps - Letter Template Samples and OKEN Scanner for preparing appointment letters and gate passes,'' the SP added.

He also downloaded the seal of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly and signatures from the internet. 

''After some days, many applicants started sending their documents - biodata, PAN Card, and qualification certificates through his WhatsApp number. After that, he asked them to deposit money for uniform fees and logistics,'' the SP said added.

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