The accused, identified as Ishpreet Singh alias Karan, Karan Kumar alias Kunal, Palak Sachdeva and Akansha, were arrested from Patiala in Punjab. The police also recovered 148 passports, 35 SIM cards and a car from their possession.
The interstate gang would run advertisements on social media offering immigration services to countries such as Canada and Australia. But, when the victims deposited the fees and passports, the gang ran away.
Explaining the modus operandi of the interstate cheating gang, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Monika Bhardwaj said, "The gang was operating in north India. Their strategy was to advertise on social media about their immigration services. They would later run away with the money that the victims submitted with them as fees along with their passports."
The gang was arrested after the Delhi police received a complaint at Janak Puri police station in west Delhi in January, where the complainant alleged that an immigration service provider had duped him of Rs 1,25,000 and taken away his passport on the pretext of providing a job in Canada.
Since then the police have been tracing the contact numbers of the accused which were used to communicate with the complainant. "On Tuesday though, the team received a tip-off regarding the whereabouts of the accused," said a police officer.
A raid was conducted in Zirakpur area of Punjab from where the team arrested four members of the gang while the fifth member, identified as Kaka, is absconding.
( With inputs from IANS )