PTI
Faridabad
Faridabad police have busted a fake call centre operating from a hotel in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden and arrested seven people, including its alleged mastermind, for cheating around 400 to 500 people, officials said
on Saturday.
Faridabad police have arrested seven people, including the alleged mastermind of the racket, and recovered 14 mobile phones and 14 SIM cards from their possession, they said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Nikhil, Akash, Dhruv, Sunil, Nitin and two women, police said.
A senior police officer said the accused used the proceeds of the fraud to purchase goods online, which they subsequently sold at lower prices on the black market.
The case came to light after a resident of Sikri approached the NIT Cyber Police Station and reported that he had received a call from an unknown number on July 27.
The caller claimed to represent a credit card service and lured the complainant with an offer to increase his credit card limit, before asking him to
share an OTP. After the complainant disclosed the OTP, Rs 65,040 was deducted from his account,
police said.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered at the NIT Cyber Police Station under relevant sections and an investigation was launched.
During the investigation, the cyber police team tracked down the accused and arrested them. Their interrogation revealed that they were operating the fake call centre from a hotel in Delhi’s Rajouri
Garden, police said.
A police spokesperson said Dhruv was the alleged mastermind of the operation, while Nitin supplied the data, mobile phones and SIM cards used
by the gang.
The other accused, including the two women, worked as callers on a salary basis, the
spokesperson said.
“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they would call people using various pretexts to obtain banking and credit card details, as well as OTPs, in order to defraud them. The questioning disclosed that the accused had swindled approximately 400 to 500 people,” the
spokesperson said.
Police also found that the accused used the fraud proceeds to purchase goods online and then sold them on the black market at lower prices.
“In this manner, they laundered the ill-gotten money by converting it into goods,” the spokesperson said.
The investigation further revealed that cybercrime cases had previously been registered against Dhruv, the alleged kingpin, and Nitin, police said.
All the arrested accused have studied between classes 9 and 12, the spokesperson said, adding that they were being questioned further.
