Police in India's capital Delhi are investigating an employment fraud in which around 28 men were tricked into counting trains for days on the pretext of getting trained for a job with the Indian Railways.
The victims each paid between ₹200,000 and ₹2.4 million (approx. BD910- BD10,950) to get the job, local media reported.
The economic offences division of Delhi Police began investigating the alleged scam in November but the news became public last week.
The scammers asked the men to stand at different platforms of the main railway station in Delhi for eight hours every day for about a month between June and July.
There they counted the trains that passed through the station every day, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The men, hailing from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, were promised they would be hired as ticket examiners, traffic assistants or clerks in the railways, one of India's largest employers.
One of the victims told The Indian Express newspaper that he had been looking for ways to support his family after the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We went to Delhi for training - all we had to do was count trains. We were sceptical of the activity, but the accused was a good friend of our neighbour. I feel ashamed now," he said.
A former army official, Subbuswamy, who had been helping young men from his hometown in Tamil Nadu find jobs "without any monetary interest" had unknowingly put them in contact with the alleged scammers.
Subbuswamy alerted the police about the fraud when details of the swindlers came to light.
He said he met a person called Sivaraman who claimed to have connections with lawmakers and ministers and offered to find government jobs for the unemployed men.
The scammers then asked the young men to travel to Delhi, and went to the extent of conducting fake medical examinations, issuing forged IDs and training completion certificates- all in an elaborate ploy to swindle them of their money.
The con artists have allegedly defrauded their victims out of a total of ₹26.7 million (approx. BD121,800).
Some of the victims said they borrowed money to pay the scammers.
Scams for government jobs are often reported in India, where millions of young people are desperate for stable and secure employment.
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