Illegal call centre duping US citizens busted in Ambala, 9 held
The unit was operating out of a marriage palace and around 125 people were found working there, police said
The Ambala unit of Haryana Police’s special task force (STF) busted an illegal call centre being operated from a marriage palace on Ambala-Kaithal Highway near Ambala city on Wednesday.
Kulbhushan, deputy superintendent of police (STF), said that around 125 people were found working at the centre and eight men were arrested from the spot, while another was nabbed from Gurugram in an overnight operation. As many as 200 computers, 10 laptops, ₹2.5 lakh in cash, 11 mobile phones and an internet server were recovered.
The accused have been identified as Rahul from Gurugram, Kamal from Panchkula, Chintan and Kunal from Ahmedabad, Sumit Chauhan from Pali, Rajasthan; Lakshmendra alias Lucky from Mumbai, Ayan and Rishi from Navi Mumbai and Ajo from Nagaland’s Dimapur.
The raid continued for nearly six hours and the accused failed to produce valid documents pertaining to licence by the telecom department, sources of customers and data etc.
“The employees were trained to lure United States customers by impersonating as representatives of Amazon or law enforcement department of federal reserve system, Florida. Their modus operandi was to hack the system of a customer, scare them with fund deduction and use their personal details to defraud them. Using the same scare, they would also provide a scratch card and ask for its number along with card details, to siphon off funds to the tune of $200-1,000 from their accounts,” he added.
The DSP added that the call centre was being operated from January and the raid was conducted on the basis of a tip-off.
On being asked about the whereabouts of the marriage palace owner, Kulbhushan said, “He had rented them the place based on some agreement. We have summoned him and he will be questioned too.”
While the employees were let go after questioning, all the nine accused were sent to three days of remand after being presented before a court, it has been learnt.
A case has been registered under Sections 120-B, 384, 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act.
Meanwhile, Haryana director general of police Manoj Yadava congratulated the STF Haryana for busting the large-scale illegal call centre and saving people from getting cheated.