- The Police have detained 84 people, including women workers, after a raid at a call center allegedly involved in duping the gullible of crores of rupees.
- Police said they seized 93 laptops, four computers, and two SUVs, in addition to ₹64.30 lakh cash, from the accused.
- Police identified Mannu Singh Panwar, who is lodged in Haryana’s Bhiwani Jail for his alleged involvement in a murder case, as the brains behind the operation.
- DCP Sathiyasundaram said that the fraudsters used to send a fictitious message to the mobile and e-mails of unsuspecting customers, mentioning the deposit of USD 1,000 to their accounts.
- When customers called to enquire about the deposit, the accused allegedly informed them that their social security number was hacked and asked them to purchase gift cards to restore it.
- Once the victims purchased the gift cards, worth a minimum of USD 99, the accused immediately redeemed it and diverted it to their account
The Police have detained 84 people, including women workers after a raid at a call center allegedly involved in duping the gullible of crores of rupees, officials said. A senior officer said hundreds of computer systems have been seized from the call centre “The police have detained 84 people from the spot in connection with the fraud. Legal proceedings are being carried out after which they will be produced in a local court,” the officer said.
Eighty-four people, including 12 women, were arrested for allegedly running a fake call center in east Delhi’s Jagatpuri and duping thousands of US citizens by reportedly impersonating employees of a leading e-commerce company and offering assistance in solving issues regarding the company’s services, police said.
Police identified Mannu Singh Panwar, who is presently lodged in Haryana’s Bhiwani Jail for his alleged involvement in a murder case, as the brains behind the operation. According to police, Panwar was a liquor vend contractor who was previously arrested in September 2020 for running a similar fake call center in Gurugram. DCP (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said 30 people were arrested in the Gurugram raid.
DCP Sathiyasundaram said that the district’s cyber cell and Jagatpuri police station teams had received information regarding the fake international call center operating from near the Jagatpuri tiles market.
“We raided the premises and found that the fraudsters were engaged in using illegal techniques through VoIP calling, thus causing wrongful loss to the government exchequer and wrongful gain to themselves. They were cheating innocent customers on the pretext of solving their queries. They also threatened the customers by telling them that their social security cards/numbers were hacked,” added the DCP.
Explaining the modus operandi, DCP Sathiyasundaram said that the fraudsters used to send a fictitious message to the mobile and e-mails of unsuspecting customers, mentioning the deposit of USD 1,000 to their accounts. When customers called to enquire about the deposit, the accused allegedly informed them that their social security number was hacked and asked them to purchase gift cards to restore it.
“Once the victims purchased the gift cards, worth a minimum of USD 99, the accused immediately redeemed it and diverted it to their account… We have initiated legal action against the owner of the premises for allowing such illegal activities and violating DDMA’s Covid guidelines. Accordingly, proceedings have also been initiated to seal the premises as per law,” said Sathiyasundaram.
(With inputs from agencies)
