Fake Vistara Job Offer Scam Busted, Key Accused Held

Delhi Police Expose Fake Vistara Job Scam, Key Accused Arrested

A WhatsApp profile bearing the Vistara logo, a forged letter of intent and a carefully planned payment trail formed the backbone of a job scam that Delhi Police say reflects how recruitment frauds have become increasingly polished and difficult to spot.

The case came to light after a complaint by Ritu Singh, who said she was approached with what appeared to be a legitimate job offer. The communication followed a familiar corporate pattern: an email outlining the opportunity, followed by WhatsApp messages from an account saved as “AIR VISTARA,” complete with the airline’s branding.

Investigators say the credibility was manufactured. The email address, WhatsApp profile and documents — including a fake letter of intent — were all fabricated to impersonate the airline and extract money under the pretext of job processing fees, uniforms and other formalities.

A case was registered under FIR No. 104/25 at the Cyber Police Station in Shahdara, Delhi, under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, after a preliminary inquiry found sufficient evidence of cheating and impersonation.

Police traced the digital trail to Aditya World City in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where they arrested 35-year-old Rohit Mishra. A Redmi 10 mobile phone recovered from his possession allegedly contained the number used to communicate with the complainant, along with other digital evidence linked to the scam.

Investigators also connected the phone to an Axis Bank account believed to have been used to receive the cheated amount. Multiple QR codes and forged documents were seized, indicating a method that combined digital payments with document fraud to create an illusion of legitimacy.

Officials said the arrest was made by correlating communication records with financial endpoints — a technique increasingly central to cybercrime investigations as scams shift seamlessly between email, messaging platforms and payment systems.

Police records indicate that Mishra is not a first-time offender. He has previously been named in two cases registered by the Delhi Crime Branch, including FIR No. 185/18 and FIR No. 277/19, involving charges related to cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and identity misuse.

Investigators believe the case fits into a wider pattern of organised job fraud rather than being an isolated incident. “The structure is reusable,” a senior officer said. “Once you have a fake brand identity, forged documents and a payment funnel, the same model can be deployed across different sectors.”

Such scams, officials warn, increasingly target job seekers by exploiting familiar corporate branding and the pressure of a competitive employment market, particularly in sectors associated with prestige and stability.

The investigation is ongoing. Police are analysing seized devices to identify possible associates and determine whether similar transactions were routed through the same accounts. Efforts are also underway to trace and recover the cheated funds.