Odisha, Sambalpur Cyber police arrested two youths including a B Tech engineer for creating a fake website of Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (WESCO) and duping several users. The two accused are Tapas Mohapatra (27) from Jalda and Sunil Kumar Mishra (25) of Sales Tax Colony in Rourkela. The youths are graduates, Tapas is a BSc degree holder whereas Sunil graduated from VSSUT, Burla in 2018.
Sambalpur Cyber IIC Tarabati Pradhan said the two had created a fake website of WESCO utility with the URL www.wescoodisha.co.in in June 2020. And then they have given fake advertisement inviting applications for various jobs in WESCO and promoted it through various mediums. Several youths who are looking for a job got lured by the fake advertisement and filled in the online job application and paid the application fees through an online payment gateway created by the duo. The incident came to light around a month later, after the DGM (HRD) of WESCO Utility, Sambalpur, came across the fake website and registered a complaint with the Cyber police station on July 27.
The mobile number associated with the fake website was tracked. The duo partners in crime was finally arrested from Rourkela. The fee for the application was `500. Though, the police are yet to ascertain the exact number of persons who fell prey to the online fraud, official sources informed, from initial investigation it appears that over a 1,000 persons had applied on the online application and paid the fee through the website. The account statements of the youths are being reviewed. The police are also investigating whether more persons are involved in the fraud.
Stolen ornaments worth INR 350 lakh were seized in Odisha
Pune youths’ bid to lob tennis balls with ganja to jail inmate foiled
