From correspondents in Delhi, India, 09:00 PM IST

Two men have been arrested here for allegedly duping hundreds of mobile phone users to the tune of Rs.2 million by selling fake and nonexistent tariff plans to the prospective customers and taking advance payments.

Delhi Police's Crime Branch Tuesday arrested Naresh, a 25-year-old school dropout, and Delhi University graduate Yogesh, 27.

Police said Yogesh, who worked as a collection agent for a company, and Naresh would hire people on a salary of Rs.3,000 per month. They asked their employees to go to houses of prospective customers to collect money and fill forms.

The accused followed a simple modus operandi. 'Someone would call persons with connections of a particular mobile phone (service provider). They would offer a lucrative tariff reduction, SMS and recharge plans. After that, they would go on to offer people to have their forms filled and collected at doorstep,' Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Satyendra Garg said.

'In some cases they received advance money up to Rs.1,000. We believe that they made over Rs.2 million in the last few months alone,' Garg said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)