Delhi Police Bust Nationwide Fake Airline Recruitment Scam: Nine Arrested in Cybercrime Operation

New Delhi police bust fake airline job racket, arrest nine including mastermind

New Delhi:

Delhi Police have dismantled a sophisticated cyber fraud operation, arresting nine individuals involved in a fake airline recruitment scheme. The group included the operation's mastermind, a telecom company employee who provided illegal SIM cards, and seven women who worked as telecallers.

The fraudsters operated an unauthorized call center in West Delhi where they impersonated recruiters from well-known airlines, including IndiGo, to deceive job seekers with false employment promises.

Additional DCP of South District Sumit Jha told NDTV, "The suspects attracted victims through fraudulent job listings on OLX and various employment websites. They conducted fake telephone interviews while pretending to be airline officials and extracted money from applicants for alleged processing fees, uniform charges, and account setup costs."

He explained that victims were defrauded through multiple small transactions ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000.

The investigation began after a victim reported losing Rs 11,000 to the scam. Police traced the operation to locations in Subhash Nagar and Tilak Nagar areas of Delhi.

A police raid resulted in the arrest of ringleader Vikash Kumar (alias Vickey), 38, and his accomplice Baljeet Singh, 31, a telecom employee who allegedly misused customer biometric data to issue fraudulent SIM cards.

Further raids in Ganesh Nagar and Tilak Nagar led to the apprehension of seven female telecallers identified as Charanjit (alias Charu), Shalini Bhardwaj, Aarti Kaur, Palveen Kaur, Nandini, Pooja Gupta, and Shweta (alias Shivani Singh).

These women were reportedly recruited through legitimate job portals and paid Rs 15,000 monthly to contact and persuade job seekers.

Police seized 22 mobile phones, a desktop computer, 19 SIM cards, multiple bank account QR codes, eight UPI IDs designed to resemble airline names, and networking equipment. Technical investigation revealed over 40 complaints against the group on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal from victims across India.

According to Delhi Police sources, the fraud operation had been functioning for more than a year, primarily targeting unemployed young people nationwide. The criminals deliberately kept transaction amounts small to avoid detection, knowing victims would be reluctant to report minor financial losses.