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Ludhiana: ‘Fake’ call centre duping US citizen busted, 9 held
The Sadar police of commissionerate uncovered an allegedly fraudulent call centre duping US nationals by posing as software engineers and technical support providers, officials said on Friday.
The Sadar police of commissionerate uncovered an allegedly fraudulent call centre duping US nationals by posing as software engineers and technical support providers, officials said on Friday.
They said nine accused were arrested by police and four laptops, 24 central processing units (CPU) and six headphones were recovered.
They said the accused would convince victims that their computers or laptops were at risk of being hacked, potentially leading to a loss of money. They would then trick them into transferring money with a promise to return the funds once the threat was resolved.
The arrested accused were identified as Ratinder Singh alias Rinkuof Model House; Sukhpreet Singh of New Hargobind Nagar; Sumant Mahajan of Janakpuri; Mayank Joshi of Durgapuri; Aditya Chauhan of Pratap Singh Wala; Ishant Singh Rana of Lohara Road; Dilpreet Singh of New Janta Nagar; Sandeep Kumar of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar and Sameer Beri of Golf Link Apartment, Hambran Road.
According to the police, Ratinder Singh is the operation’s kingpin.
Sadar station-house officer (SHO inspector Harshveer Singh said the accused were operating the call centre under the name ‘Success Solutions Care’ in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on Dhandra Road.
Modus operandi
He said the accused were fluent in English and would call US nationals while posing as technical support personnel. They warned the victims that their systems were at risk of being hacked and convinced them to transfer money to their bank accounts in the US.
They assured the victims of returning the money once the threat was neutralised. The police raided the call centre after a tip-off.
The inspector added that Ratinder Singh was the mastermind behind the scam and allegedly got the idea from his sister, who works as a software engineer in the US.
“The investigation also uncovered that the accused have been operating call centres at various locations since 2015. They recently opened their office at this location. During probe, it was found that Ratinder obtained contact information for US nationals from a local vendor there,” said the SHO.
He added that more important information is expected from the accused during questioning.
