Mohali: 2 fake call centres involved in online scams busted; 10 held
Following a tip-off, Mohali police teams conducted raids at Manchanda Tower, Plot No D/133C, and found two fraudulent call centres operating on the first and third floors – one running a PayPal phishing scam and the other duping people through a fake travel agency.
The anti-narcotics-cum-special operations cell of Mohali police on Monday claimed to have busted two fake call centres in Phase-7 with the arrest of 10 persons, allegedly involved in duping foreign nations through sophisticated online scams.
Following a tip-off, teams conducted raids at Manchanda Tower, Plot No D/133C, and found two fraudulent call centres operating on the first and third floors – one running a PayPal phishing scam and the other duping people through a fake travel agency.
PayPal phishing scam
On the first floor, police arrested alleged mastermind Manmeet Singh Banwait of Sector 53, Mohali, his associates Anmol Malhotra of Shivjot Enclave, Kharar, Jasneet Kaur of Kharar, Armita of Sector 117, Mohali, Gurpreet Singh of Phase 1, Mohali, and Vugsam Hungyo alias Sam, who hails from Nagaland and resides in a paying-guest accommodation in Balongi.
DSP, cyber crime, Rupinder Sohi said the gang would impersonate PayPal – a US-based online payments system – and trick their victims into calling a toll-free number. They would tell the victims that their PayPal accounts had been compromised or used for illegal activities. To escalate the deception, the accused would “transfer” the call to their team members, who would pose as bank officials. Eventually, the victims would be coerced into buying Apple gift cards following which the gang would steal their card details and siphon off money from their accounts. The stolen funds were either converted into cryptocurrency or transferred via hawala channels to convert into Indian currency.
Police have seized five laptops, five headphones, and nine mobile phones, a luxury Toyota Fortuner, a Mohali-registered Jazz car, and a Delhi-registered Verna, all used in the operation.
Fake travel agency scam
In the second raid, simultaneously conducted on the third floor, the teams found a bogus travel agency, MS Wyenwa Travel Pvt Ltd. Police said the accused would lure foreign nationals with discounted airfares through a website named trialpro.com. Once the victims shared their credit or debit card details, the scammers charged them through illegally registered payment gateways, claiming it was for ticket bookings. However, the victims never received the tickets. The money, after deducting commission, was transferred to the accused in Indian currency via accounts or cash.
Five persons – identified as Morya Nath alias Christopher, the manager of the centre and a resident of Dwarka, Delhi, Ishwar Kumar of Kangra, Rinchen Vineyal Thimfayo of Bhutan and Dolly Kumari of Jharkhand, were caught red-handed. The accused are said to be residing in rented accommodations in Mohali and Kharar. Police have recovered four CPUs, four headphones, and five mobile phones from the site.
All 10 accused were produced in the court and sent on one-day police remand.
