Bhubaneswar: Operations of fake job rackets in the city have emerged as a major concern for aspirants and police.

The police on Thursday arrested one Sanjay Jena, a native of Kendrapara district, who had duped around 20 lakh from job aspirants on the pretext of providing them employment in government and private organisations.

Jena had set up a consultancy at Nayapalli and collected huge amount from job seekers. "We have received five complaints against the firm. We suspect that the fraud amount will escalate. We urge other victims to come forward and lodge complaints as well," said a police officer.

More than 40 such cases had been registered at various police stations across Bhuba-neswar last year. The police found the cheaters of using Internet to get the logos and name of officials of the government offices to convince the victims. "Most of the accused are able to get the logos of various organisations to print the fake letter heads and give appoint letters. They are also able to put fake signatures of concerned recruiters," said the officer. The police said the fake consultancies were charging up to Rs 5 lakh for government jobs and Rs 2 lakh for private jobs. "They often demand hard cash from the victims and invest it on assets, which makes it difficult to recover the money.," he said.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi urged the job aspirants not to get trapped by these job consultancies. "They must verify the credentials of such consultancies before paying them money. We also urge them to lodge complaints immediately to help us recover the money and arrest the accused," said Bhoi.