New Delhi: Around 14 people were arrested for allegedly operating a large-scale work-from-home scam racket, with 12 of them nabbed from a hotel in Shahdara’s Geeta Colony. Police said several complaints linked to the gang revealed cheating amounting to nearly Rs 8 crore.Police said the gang targeted job seekers through social media platforms by offering fake high-paying remote jobs and later duped them into paying registration fees, security deposits and other charges through mule bank accounts remotely controlled by the accused.As police received the information about cyber fraud activities being carried out in the hotel, a raid was conducted, during which 12 people from different states were found staying in separate rooms. During questioning, they allegedly admitted to being part of an organised cyber fraud syndicate involved in cheating people on the pretext of lucrative job offers and financial incentives.DCP (Shahdara) RP Meena constituted a team led by inspector Shweta Sharma, which initiated the investigation .“The accused hailed from Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. They allegedly operated in a coordinated manner under the directions of key handlers Pardeep alias Alpha and King alias Tejpal Singh through social media groups,” the DCP said.He added the syndicate allegedly used mule bank accounts to route defrauded money and evade detection. One account was linked to 40 NCRP complaints involving Rs 1.5 crore, while an ATM card recovered during the raid was connected to frauds worth Rs 3 crore. The financial trail pointed to fraud exceeding Rs 8 crore.Police said digital evidence, including chats, APK-based tools and SIM cards, confirmed the organised structure of the racket. During police custody remand, two more accused — Pradeep and Gevi — were arrested from Ludhiana in Punjab, taking the total number of arrests to 14.Investigation revealed that the syndicate identified job seekers through social media platforms, job portals and messaging apps before contacting them with fake work-from-home, part-time and high-salary job offers. Victims were then shifted to Telegram conversations to avoid traceability and shown fake company profiles, appointment letters and task-based earning schemes to gain their trust.Police seized 18 mobile phones, 19 SIM cards, one laptop, four cheque books, two stamps and three ATM cards from the accused.
