Hyderabad job scam: 27 cheated by fake consultancy firm

Hyderabad: Nearly 27 victims who claim they were cheated by a fake consultancy firm — that had promised them jobs abroad —  approached the police to file a complaint on Friday.

They alleged that Pavan Kumar and Rajeshwari, both directors of SK Global consultancy firm, had collected Rs 34 lakh towards visa and other processing fees nearly six moths ago. They claim nothing has happened since.

Pavan Kumar and Rajeshwari, who earlier worked for different job consultancies, had started SK Global Consultancy at Tarnaka six months ago.

They even published an ad in a leading city newspaper offering jobs in Canada for people in the age group of 18 to 55. It’s believed they were approached by hundreds of aspirants. A Esther Kenny, a resident of Tarnaka, said she was told the process will cost over a lakh - a sum she agreed to pay.

“I made two payments of Rs 25,000 and also gave them my passport for processing. After a few days, they sent me a fake Visa document and even a work permit. We also got a police clearance certificate from the local police station to avoid further hassles. But later, everything turned out to be fake and when we asked, they promised to return the amount.” she said.

Another 32-year-old youth from Habsiguda said he was told to pay Rs 2.5 lakh for the process. Police have registered a cheating case against both Pavan and Rajeshwari. “We have formed teams to trace the accused. We suspect more have been cheated,” Osmania University inspector V. Ashok Reddy said.