The Delhi police arrested 16 girls and two men in connection with a friendship club on Saturday. The gang was active in Uttam Nagar and Dabri.
The gang made lakhs of rupees from hundreds of clients as they charged a hefty amount for phone friendship with girls.
Surender, 28, and Nitesh Kumar, 24, and 16 girls, all belonging to the age group of 18 to 28 years, were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping clients from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
“They gave advertisements in the daily newspapers. The racketeers exploited the human frailties for the successful operation of the racket,” Ashok Chand, deputy commissioner of police, crime and railways, said.
The fake friendship club was run in the name of “VIP Friendship Club’. Whenever they received a call they used to tell the caller that they would have to get themselves registered and the initial amount was `2500 to `4,000.
“These girls then continued fleecing the caller till he became suspicious. When the caller became suspicious they stopped picking up the phones,” Mr Chand said.
To induce the caller to join the fake massage parlour training centre, they told that they would not only teach him how to become a masseur but also provide him with a list of clients for him to earn money. Once all the money was deposited they would stop taking the calls of the caller.
The police also recovered a laptop, 30 mobile phones, 16 registers, 1 diary, 24 debit cards and 3 forged voter ID cards from their possession.
“The racketeers operated 24 bank accounts in nine banks. All the bank accounts have been opened on fake documents. The average earning per day was to the tune of `50,000,” Mr Chand said.