Mumbai: A 22-year-old man has been arrested for alleged fraud €60 lakh within the final two years by way of a faux on-line job racket. The defendant, who was unemployed in 2020, has since purchased a brand new home, automobile and land, police officers mentioned.

The accused Sahil Khan is a resident of the Hanuman society in Deonar. In 2020, as folks began dropping their jobs as a result of Covid pandemic, Khan posted an advert on the OLX website providing well-paying freelance jobs.

“Khan acquired replies from these in want and contacted them by cellphone. He first took small quantities from them within the identify of “dealing with charges” after which gave them orders,” mentioned Police Inspector Raju Surve of Mankhurd Police Station.

He mentioned when the victims submitted the orders, Khan would level out a number of alleged flaws of their work and declare that the “shopper” suffered losses because of the issues. He would then drive jobseekers to pay cash as “penalties” for the losses incurred by non-existent shoppers.

To maintain the racquet going Khan wanted a gradual provide of SIM playing cards as he by no means used the identical SIM card quite a lot of occasions. Due to this, he would ask his family and friends members to get SIM playing cards for him on their behalf.

The rip-off got here to gentle earlier this yr when Khan’s relative Ali Shamsul Kamar began receiving calls from numerous folks telling him that they had been scammed out of assorted quantities and that the SIM playing cards used within the rip-off have been all in his identify be registered.

“Over the previous two years, Kamar Khan had offered a complete of 5 SIM playing cards utilizing his personal Aadhar card. Khan saved telling him that he wanted SIM playing cards for enterprise and that he did not have an Aadhar card, and believing that onerous occasions have been forward for Khan, Kamar saved accommodating Khan,” a police officer mentioned.

Additionally, Khan Kamar would pay €1,000 to €2,000 for every SIM card, he added.

When the calls did not cease, Kamar investigated and found that his spouse had additionally given Khan seven SIM playing cards, whereas his good friend Badruddin Sayyed Khan had additionally offered 4 SIM playing cards.

A curious Kamar inquired additional and came upon that Khan, who till two years in the past lamented not having a job and cash, now owns a brand new home in Deonar, a brand new automobile and land in his hometown of Uttar Pradesh. Satisfied that one thing was improper, Kamar contacted the Mankhurd police and filed a criticism.

“We arrested Khan at his residence and the main points of his racket have been revealed throughout his questioning, after which he was arrested. We now have confiscated 11 SIM playing cards from his possession and are nonetheless attempting to get an estimate of what number of extra playing cards he has used and discarded so far,” Surve mentioned.

He added that there’s some proof he employed some folks to assist him after his racquet picked up steam, however that is nonetheless underneath investigation.