Bogus placement firm cheats thousands

Visakhapatnam: A bogus placement agency cheated as many as 7,000 students up to Rs 14 lakh which they collected as service charges. The incident came to light on Saturday and the students swarmed the agency premises. Reports said a placement agency 'Run Placements' announced a schedule for job selections on Saturday and Sunday through internet using logos of Andhra University and a number of reputed companies. As the notification contained logo of Andhra University and the venue was at the School of Distance Education wing, thousands of candidates fell for the offer and registered their names during last two days by paying Rs 200 each. Sources said that thousands of unemployed youth got registered their names since organizers set up counters in Andhra University campus. The university students and faculty members were aware of the progamme. As per the schedule, thousands of youth from different parts of the State descended at a private function hall located near Old Venkpojipalem on Saturday morning to attend the interviews. The private venue was selected after Andhra University authorities refused to accommodate space for the interviews. However, when the selection began, only a handful of engineering graduates were allowed to appear for the test while the remaining persons were asked to wait. The aspirants grew suspicious and informed the police. The students said the organizers announced in their advertisement that top MNCs would be attending the job fair but only a few call centers came to the venue. ``In the advertisement the organizers announced that 2013 graduating students would be allowed but when the interview time announced for the few call centers, they said only 2012 graduates were eligible,'' said M Ravi Kumar, a science graduate. When some of them insisted for refund of the money, only 500 candidates were given and the organizers disappeared from the spot. The police however, picked up a woman in this connection and questioning her.