Gurugram police raid fake call centre; 18 people arrested

A fake call centre was busted here on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday and 18 people were arrested for allegedly duping foreign nationals on the pretext of text support.

According to the police, the accused used to create false pressure on the victims by invoking the fear of child pornography and the possibility that their bank account details may be compromised.

They then used to charge 200 to 900 dollars for selling an antivirus.

The culprits used to charge money through Google Pay, Epay, Steam, Apple, Bestbuy, and Target Gift Card, the police said on Friday.

The bogus call centre had been running for the last few months on rent of Rs 2.5 lakh per month.

According to the police, a police team from the Chief Minister flying wing, Cyber Crime police station (west) and Udyog Vihar police station raided the call centre which was located at third floor of Lal Tower in Udyog Vihar, following a tip-off.

During the raid, the police arrested 18 people including the owner and the manager and seized three mobile phones, three laptops, one Internet modem, a lane container and Rs 13,480.

The prime accused were identified as Shashank Rathod (32), the owner of the call centre, Abhishek Pandey (26), a resident of Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and call centre manager Vivek Shinde.

"We received lead inputs that this fake call centre in Udyog Vihar had cheated several US nationals on the pretext of text support and child pornography. The youths were employed at the call centre, which was being operated without a licence," said ACP Inderjeet Yadav.

"During the questioning, the culprits revealed that the data of US citizens were provided by their owner, who had purchased the data through online websites and used to send bulk messages to US citizens on daily basis," the police officer said.

"The matter is under investigation and involvement of other people cannot be ruled out. A case under various sections of the IPC was registered against the culprits at the Udyog Vihar police station, he added.

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