Mysore/Mysuru: Over 13 youths who wanted to secure jobs in the Railways have been cheated of Rs. 45,22,200 by a resident of Mysuru city.

An FIR has been registered in the Mysuru District Cybercrime, Economic offences and Narcotics (CEN) Police. In his complaint, C.K. Palraj, a resident of Hunsur, has alleged that Prakash Krishna Murthy, a resident of Ramanuja Road in Mysuru city, claimed that he was working in the railways and had contacts to provide jobs to interested youths for a price.

Trusting him, Palraj informed his relatives about the job offer and all the 13 of them were ready to pay lakhs of rupees for the jobs that they were going to acquire through short-cut means.

The complaint stated that Prakash Krishna Murthy promised that after the money is paid to him, the railways would conduct recruitment examinations where the candidates would be automatically selected.

Initially, a couple of youths were convinced by Prakash Krishna Murthy to pay up and they readily agreed. Gradually, the word spread among their friends and in all, 13 youths fell prey to the conman. All hailed from Hunsur and Mysuru taluks and they pooled in money after taking loans and borrowing from their parents and relatives.

The FIR mentions the names of the victims as Amrutha, Manoj Kumar, Santhosh, Pravin Kumar, Divya Prasad, Sahana, Srusti, Saleena, Kalpana, Darshan, Akash and Ravi. Rs. 45,22,200 was collected through online transactions and cash. The cash was paid to the accused at various hotels and Prakash Krishna Murthy had nine phone numbers linked to various bank accounts to which the money was transferred.

The complaint stated that after the money was paid, the candidates were told that the examinations would be conducted by the Railways and all of them would be employed by Jan. 31, 2022.

As the job offer never came, the candidates got jittery and they have approached the CEN Police now. The accused has vacated his house on Ramanuja Road and all his mobile phones have been switched off.

Complaints with city CEN too

Complaints have been lodged at city CEN Police Station by two more victims of online fraud.

In the first case, a 20-year-old girl has complained that she was conned Rs. 83,600 by a fraudster after promising a job as an airport ground staff in a private airline.

The second complaint was lodged by a tailor who was cheated of Rs. 3 lakh by a conman after he was promised of getting a franchise of e-commerce companies.