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Call centre racket targeting UScitizens busted in Mohali
Pretending to be Amazon representatives, the employees threatened customers that a parcel ordered by them has illegal items and police will be informed; on the pretext of cancelling the order, they would make the victims pay via a cash app or Amazon gift card
The cyber crime division of the Punjab Police has blown the lid off a major call centre racket targeting residents in the Unites States (US).
Busting two fake call centres running from Sector 74, Mohali, police have arrested a total of 155 employees, who had been scamming unsuspecting US citizens through fraudulent phone calls.
As many as 79 desktop computer units, 204 laptops and mobile phones, besides training scripts to lure to the customers into paying, have been recovered.
Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav revealed that the accused made deceptive calls to US citizens from two call centres, one at Plot Number F88 and another at A-one Tower, both in Sector 74, Mohali. According to police, both call centres were being operated by Gujarat-based kingpins.
ADGP (Cyber Crime) V Neeraja, while addressing a press conference at Punjab Punjab headquarters in Sector 9, Chandigarh, said intelligence inputs about fake call centres operating in Mohali, targeting foreigners, were developed by inspector Gaganpreet Singh and inspector Daljit Singh, along with their teams, using technical assistance from digital investigation training and analysis centre (DITAC) lab of cyber crime division.
She said after zeroing in on the locations, police teams under the supervision of SP (Cyber Crime) Jashandeep Singh, led by DSP Prabhjot Kaur, raided both the call centres on the intervening night between Tuesday and Wednesday, and arrested all 155 employees, who were working as diallers, closers, bankers and floor managers. “However, both the kingpins are absconding and police teams are working to nab them,” ADGP added.
Neeraja added that 18 employees were taken on police remand, while the rest were sent to judicial custody.
Police officials said the scammers employed various modi operandi, including offering fake low-interest loans, even if the credit score is low, and charging money for it. The customers were made to buy gift cards in the hope of a loan, which were immediately redeemed by the kingpins.
Also, pretending to be Amazon representatives, they threatened customers that a parcel ordered by them has illegal items and police will be informed. On the pretext of cancelling the order, they would make the victims pay via a cash app or Amazon gift card.
They would also threaten the customers by sending fake “Microsoft” pop-ups on their computer, claiming that the system was compromised. Offering a helpline number with the pop-up, they would make the customers pay to fix the “problem”.
All gift card numbers were shared with their US-based accomplices, who redeemed the amount and sent it to the racket’s kingpins in India through Hawala. They obtained the customers’ contact information from data brokers, said police.
All accused have been booked under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act at the State Cyber Crime Cell police station.
