Fraud committed by a job consultancy firm called Great Masters Consultancy came to light here today, after around 60 youth were allegedly duped by it, of nearly Rs 50 lakh.
The fraud came to light today after "salary" cheques of the consultancy's "employees" bounced due to insufficient balance in the bank account of the owners of the company who went missing.
Duped "employees" and trainees approached IV Town Police in the city.
Inspector of Police, IV Town Police Station, DSRVSN Murthy said that Malapragada Gautam Easwar Rao and his wife M Swati Priya Rao had started a company called Great Masters Consultancy at the Dondaparthi area in the city around seven months ago and they engaged in training people in HTML, PHP as well as web designing.
The couple collected Rs 25,000 for training and later "recruited" them for what they claimed were "in-house projects".
The couple had promised placements in Singapore and again collected Rs 1 to 4 lakh again from about 10 trainees and employees.
Allegedly, they also collected amounts ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh from about 15 trainees and "employees" under the pretext of "doubling" the amount in two months.
Police sources said that the couple collected around Rs 50 lakh and went missing since the past few days.
"Salary" cheques given to the "employees" also bounced.
Smelling foul play, a few employees and trainees lodged a complaint against the couple today evening.
The police registered a case and investigation is on.
