Hyderabad: Two persons, including a woman, were arrested on Thursday for allegedly cheating 161 job aspirants of Rs 80 lakh, by promising them employment in Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd, police said.

According to reports, the accused along with two others, who are absconding, had under the pretext of getting jobs in L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd collected Rs 80 lakh from as many as 161 job seekers, they said.

After collecting the money, the accused created fake appointment orders and dispatched it to candidates through a fake email id.

The job aspirants who believed in the authenticity of the appointment letters approached the Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities and much to their astonishment the candidates realised that they were duped by the accused and that the appointment letters were fake. Later, the victims lodged a police complaint with the Uppal police, based on which the duo was arrested.

The accused are Chilla Mahalakshmi and Velagapudi Rama Krishna. Two others, Bandaru Laxman Rao and Gaddam Sridhar Reddy are absconding.

The police seized a car, two cell phones and fake job order copies of 161 victims and Rs 70,000 cash from the accused.

Even though there are regular warnings sent to people by cybercrime officials and job portals stating that they do not take money to offer jobs, the vulnerability of the job seekers who fall for the lucrative possibility of obtaining a government job lead them to let down their guard. Many aspirants fall into this trap in the desperation to obtain employment.