In a bizarre case, four students of a local private engineering college have complained to the local police that they were duped into performing ‘escort services’-like jobs by an online agency which had hired them for ‘home-tuition’. In their complaint to the cyber cell of the city police, they have alleged that when they called up the agency to lodge their protest, they were threatened and blackmailed, reported Times of India.
Giving details, cyber cell in charge Abhay Mishra said that in the past two days four complaints from private college students were received about being fleeced in the name of providing jobs. The four students belong to two different city-based engineering colleges.
Mishra also said that according to their common complaint, last month they were surfing the net to enquire about the odd jobs when they found ‘home tuitions’ available for engineering graduates. “The prospect of a steady income got them excited and they decided to enrol themselves,” Mishra said.
According to police, after their enrolment, tele-callers from tuition-provider company gave them details about their firm and then took a telephonic interview for knowing their expertise. The four then were asked to get themselves registered along with Rs 10,000 fee. They were also asked to fill details about their bank accounts, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts and also policies if any in their names.
The miscreants then called each enrolled student from different number first and asked him to deposit Rs 20,000 more as security money, said the cyber cell officials. “Once this amount was deposited into the account of miscreants which were of different banks based in West Bengal, then the students were called again and given tuition tasks,” said the officials.
One of the complainants told police that when he reached an address given by their employer, it turned out to be a starred hotel. “I reached there carrying notebooks and pens for giving tuition but what I got was appalling. In the dim-lit room, suddenly I was surrounded by women speaking in husky voice. I guessed that I was not at the right place. In the meanwhile, a woman came to me and shoved me into another room which was completely dark. I was asked to give body massage to the women reclining on couches and bed,” he stated in his complaint.
Similar allegations were made by other complainants as well. The victims claimed that they refused to perform those services and immediately came out. They later refused and called back those numbers for lodging their protest but were threatened that their social media and other accounts would be hacked and also their morphed pictures would be uploaded on social networks. Thereafter, the four victims informed the police.
Mishra said that complaints against unidentified persons had been registered. “We are tracing the phone numbers to track the location of callers and then will start ground operations,” he added.
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