Punjab Police busts fake online job racket, four cyber criminals arrested from Assam

Guwahati, Feb 23: In a major crackdown, the Punjab Police apprehended four cyber criminals from various districts of Assam who were involved in an online job fraud racket on Thursday.

According to Gaurav Yadav, the Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, the modus operandi involved enticing individuals with "work from home" opportunities through a Telegram mobile app group. The fraudsters gained victims' trust by initially assigning small tasks and paying nominal amounts.

However, as the trust grew, victims were coerced into depositing money on various pretexts with promises of substantial returns.

"This arrest unveils another layer of a widespread cyber fraud network operating nationwide," stated the DGP. The apprehended individuals were identified as Jahirul Islam, Rafiul Islam, Mehabub Alam, and Azizur Rehman.

As per reports, the police recovered two swipe machines, two biometric scanners, one eye scanner, one fingerprint scanner, 38 pan cards, 32 debit and credit cards, 16 SIM cards, 10 voter cards, nine Aadhaar cards, 10 bank account passbooks/cheque books, five government stamps, five mobile phones, one laptop, two pen drives, and one ID card from the suspects.

Assistant Director General of Police (ADGP) for Cyber Crime, V Neeraja, revealed that the investigation was initiated following a complaint from a woman defrauded of Rs 25 lakh. The cyber-crime team traced the operation to Assam, exposing the extensive reach of the cyber-crime nexus.