Bhubaneswar: Fake job rackets continue to thrive here despite frequent police crackdowns on those.

On Saturday, the cops busted one such racket at Saheed Nagar. The members of the racket duped aspirants on the pretext of providing jobs as guards with Indian Railways. The police also found stamps and letterheads of the CBI, various nationalised and private sector banks and various departments of the central government.

The police said they had arrested seven members of the gang so far. "The gang used to charge Rs 1 lakh from each aspirant on the pretext of providing them with jobs and also used to issue fake letters of intent on the forged letterheads. We are also trying to nab the other gang members," said a police officer.

In March, the police arrested Sanjay Jena, a Kendrapara native, who duped around Rs 20 lakh from job aspirants on the pretext of providing them with jobs in government and private organisations.

The police had found that the racketeers downloaded the logos and names of officials of government establishments to convince the victims.

The police said the fake consultancies were charging up to Rs 5 lakh for jobs in government sectors where as the going rate for private jobs was pegged at Rs 2 lakh.

"The accused invested the money from the victims on assets to make it difficult to recover it. Most of the accounts of those arrested had zero balance as they had withdrawn money out of fear that their accounts would be frozen," said a cop.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo urged job seekers not to fall for such consultancies. "They should verify the antecedents before giving money."