Eight arrested in raid on fake gaming call centre in Gurugram

Siddhant Jain, deputy commissioner of police (cybercrime), said that they learned about the centre through the “Pratibimb” portal of the Union ministry of home affairs

Eight people were arrested after a raid on a fake gaming call centre in Gurugram’s Sector 52 that was being run on the directions of a cybercriminal from Sri Lanka, police officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday. Investigators said that the raid on the centre, running from a rented house in Koyal Vihar, was carried out on Monday night.

The arrested suspects were identified as Sunil Kumar alias Sonu, 42, Pawan Kumar, 24, Arshdeep Kumar, 27, and Tarun Kumar, 20, of Fatehabad, Paras Deep, 19, of Sirsa, Deepak Kumar, 21, of Matlora in Hisar, Himanshu Kumar, 20, of Patiala Chowk in Jind, and Rajender Kumar, 37, of Aghar Jitto in Jammu and Kashmir. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The arrested suspects were identified as Sunil Kumar alias Sonu, 42, Pawan Kumar, 24, Arshdeep Kumar, 27, and Tarun Kumar, 20, of Fatehabad, Paras Deep, 19, of Sirsa, Deepak Kumar, 21, of Matlora in Hisar, Himanshu Kumar, 20, of Patiala Chowk in Jind, and Rajender Kumar, 37, of Aghar Jitto in Jammu and Kashmir.

Priyanshu Dewan, assistant commissioner of police (cybercrime), said that Sunil was the head of this call centre running from the city. Investigators said that he paid ₹25,000-30,000 salary and commission to the other suspects.

“The centre was functioning for the past year. The modus operandi was to dupe money from people under the pretext of investment in gaming platforms for winning jackpots. Sunil was running the centre with the help of a suspect from Sri Lanka. Investigation is underway to determine the identity of the foreign national. It will become clear later if more such centres are operating in the country,” said Dewan.

Meanwhile, Siddhant Jain, deputy commissioner of police (cybercrime), said that they learned about the centre through the “Pratibimb” portal of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA).

“One of the suspects’ victims from outside Haryana had lodged an online cyber fraud complaint on 1930 helpline. We got to know about their presence in our jurisdiction from real-time surveillance provided by MHA and carried out the raid,” Jain said.

“We seized 28 mobile phones and three laptops from the suspects. We will share the information recovered with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which will clarify how many people across the country were duped by the gang and how much crores of money was stolen,” the DCP said. The suspects were operating several bank accounts in which their victims deposited money via UPI, investigators said.

Police said the suspects were taken on two-day police remand for detailed interrogation on court orders.