Two people have been arrested for allegedly duping job aspirants by launching a fake website of the Ministry of Rural Development, police said on Monday.

The scam came to light after the Ministry of Rural Development filed a complaint regarding deceptive recruitment advertisements featuring images of ministers and senior government officials, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla.

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The cop added that the scam involved enticing job seekers and then demanding payment under the guise of registration fees for recruitment.

Based on the complaint, a case under 318(4), 319(2), cheating and dacoity, was registered at Police Station Cyber, New Delhi District and investigation was taken up.

During the investigation, a QR code was found linked to fake websites which were used to receive registration fees from job seekers and money credited into a Central Bank of India account of Assam, he said.

The money was further siphoned off to multiple accounts and subsequently withdrawn through ATMs, he said.

Based on the money trail, a raid was conducted and Ikbal Hussain was arrested from Laxmi Nagar and the mastermind of the scam, Rashid Choudhury was also arrested in a subsequent raid from the same area, the cop said.

As per the cops, Choudhary orchestrated the scam by recruiting specialists: web developers for fake sites, operatives for ads, and others for procuring bank accounts and SIM cards. He served as both manager and instructor of the operation. Both arrested individuals resided in separate flats in Laxmi Nagar.

Moreover, the mobile phones, SIM cards, and bank accounts linked to the scam’s perpetrators are being sent to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre for nationwide cross-referencing with similar complaints and ongoing investigations.

Furthermore, other fake websites are under analysis to find more victims, and efforts are underway to locate and arrest other individuals involved, Mahla added.