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BENGALURU: A 32-year-old software engineer who was trying to land a job in the US was cheated of Rs 4.5 lakh by a job portal. Kshama Senani (name changed) of Nanjappa Layout in Arakere, told Hulimavu police she uploaded her resume on job portal careerindiadice.com on November 24.

"Minutes later, a person identifying himself as Harsh Mishra from careerindiadice.com called me and promised me a job in the US. He told me to deposit Rs 8,106 for registration. The same day, another man, who identified himself as Shivanshu, called me and said I had to pay Rs 3.1 lakh for background verification and profile creation. He promised that I was free to seek withdrawal of services and would get a full refund. I paid them using my HDFC credit card," the complaint reads.

The same evening, Kshama decided not to pursue job opportunities in the US due to personal reasons and called up careerindiadice.com and sought a refund.

"The job portal claimed I needed to pay Rs 1.3 lakh to 'swap' my profile and I paid the same on December 10 with my HDFC debit card. When I checked, I found the money had been transferred to Relfeckt Incorporation and Premium Services. I was told it would be refunded between December 22 and 25. I called up Shivanshu again to check and he claimed the process was almost over and the money would be deposited on December 26. He also sent an email confirming this," Kshama said in her complaint on Sunday.

"When the money was not refunded on December 26, I called Shivanshu and others and none of them answered," she added. "I also went to the address provided on the portal but no office existed at the place. I realised the information published was false," the complaint said. When TOI called the number mentioned on the website on Tuesday, it was temporarily disabled. Police are yet to initiate a probe in this regard.

