Massive Visa Scam Unveiled: Job Seekers Duped as Criminals Caught | Delhi News

New Delhi: A group of scammers wove a web of deceit, preying on the desperation of job seekers chasing foreign dreams. With promises of employment visas and appointment letters, the conmen extracted hefty sums of money from their victims, leaving behind broken lives. Police have arrested a tech-savvy MBA graduate, a diploma holder and a clinic owner for the crime.
The mastermind, Ritesh Tiwari, 28, an MBA/BBA graduate with experience in immigration consultancy, orchestrated the scam. Chandan Baranwal, 26, was responsible for forging and editing visa appointment letters, while Dr Azad Pratap Rao, 23, a diploma holder in optometry, provided bank accounts for money laundering. Police have found details of more than 100 people, including over 20 foreign nationals, from their phones. The cops suspect that the accused were running the racket for the past two years.
Police received a complaint from Anand Singh, consultant for VFS Global, the travel and visa services company, alleging a fraudulent scheme in which two men posed as VFS officials named Parveen Sahoo and Ajeet Sahoo on social media platforms to deceive foreign nationals by issuing forged visa appointment letters at significant costs. To enhance their deception, the duo used the VFS logo and communicated with the victims through fraudulent email IDs.
A case was registered. Sanjay Bhatia, additional CP (crime), said the team got the details of six social media and mail accounts used by the accused persons for creating fake profiles. They also found that several SIM cards issued in different names were also used.
A team led by inspector Sunil Kalkhande, under the supervision of DCP (crime) Vikram Singh, traced the men’s location to their native town, Hata in UP’s Kushinagar district. “At the location, we found a mobile shop. During a search, we discovered that the trio was running the entire racket from that spot,” a police officer said.
The cops found that Tiwari was the mastermind of the scam. He worked in an immigration consultancy firm where he thought up the idea. He contacted Baranwal, a computer diploma holder who knew how to use editing software. They contacted Rao, an optometrist, who was running a clinic in Hatta. “Two of them posed as fake VFS officials and contacted job seekers. Baranwal altered genuine appointment letters, changing the visa categories, while Rao provided bank accounts where the defrauded money could be transferred,” an officer said.
One such victim was Aamil Sheikh who was duped of Rs 2.5 lakh for an appointment letter for a visa to Poland, which turned out to be forged. The gang mostly targeted individuals like Sheikh who required employment visas knowing how difficult this could be for them.
Dr Muktesh Chander, senior security advisor-South Asia, VFS Global, said, “As a responsible corporate, we have consistently worked to protect travellers and visa applicants from fraudsters. We appreciate Delhi Police’s effort on this breakthrough and for addressing fraudulent activities targeting visa applicants. We advise travellers to beware of fraudulent entities making misleading promises regarding visa-related issues and be forthcoming in reporting such cases to law enforcement agencies.”