Gurgaon police bust major call center racket, 33 arrested
Gurgaon police busted a major call center racket in Udyog Vihar Phase 5 that duped Americans, Australians and other foreign citizens. The scammers used to offer people loans, lotteries or tax benefits in lieu of payments. The racket was being operated from different buildings, says HT. Thirty-three persons have been arrested and investigations launched against over 250 "employees."
How did the callers dupe people?
The scammers would call up people and offer them cheap loans, or tell them they had won a lottery, or say they are from the tax department. The customer would be asked to transfer a 'nominal' amount through mobile wallets. The "employees" were paid salaries of Rs. 20,000-25,000 in cash. One arrested was a Ghana national who didn't have a passport or visa.
Police watched them for a month before nabbing them
Police kept a watch on the call centers for a month before conducting raids. Thirty-three "team leaders" and "managers" were arrested. 100 laptops, 25 mobile phones and other devices were seized. The owners were identified as Nitin Dahiya (Gurgaon), Rohit Kumar (Noida), Shahrukh Khan and Rohit Rajvansh (Delhi), and Rahul Shrivastav (Dwarka), but the mastermind is suspected to be from Gujarat and based abroad.
Seven cases filed against the accused
"This is a major operation as money was funnelled through Hawala channels," Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said. However, there's no information yet on how much they siphoned off. Seven cases have been registered against the accused under Sections 406, 419 and 66 of the IT Act.
