Illegal call centre busted in Gurugram and 24 suspects arrested; probe underway

The police said that Umesh Yadav — the fake call centre’s owner and the alleged mastermind — was arrested from the office building, along with 23 more callers, including 13 women, who worked for him

The police and the Haryana chief minister’s flying squad busted an alleged illegal call centre operating from a house in DLF Phase II, and booked 24 suspects who had been duping the residents of US and Canada on the pretext of providing them social insurance number or technical support for laptop or computer operations, said the officials on Saturday.

A case has been registered against all the 24 arrested people under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act at the DLF Phase II police station. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The police said that Umesh Yadav — the fake call centre’s owner and the alleged mastermind — was arrested from the office building, along with 23 more callers, including 13 women, who worked for him.

A case has been registered against all the 24 arrested people under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act at the DLF Phase II police station.

The police said that the callers were paid salary as well as commissions on the basis of money they used to dupe from the residents of both the countries. A search was conducted at the ground floor of a residential house on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, said the police, adding that Yadav pays a hefty rent of ₹1.5 lakh per month for the accommodation.

According to the police, Yadav had failed to produce a valid government licence or document needed to run the illegal call centre ahead of the arrests. The callers used to demand $500 ( ₹38,143) to $1,000 ( ₹76,275) from each of the foreigners after sending them emails comprising the call centre’s number, which functioned from Gurugram.

Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Preet Pal Sangwan said that the employees of the centre used to impersonate the officials of ‘Canada border service agency’, ‘Financial crime unit’, ‘Bureau of narcotics’ or ‘Canadian intelligence service’ to the victims. “The employees used to take remote access to the computers of the foreigners on the pretext of providing them assistance, after which they asked for payments in the form of gift cards, which they later used to encash. They also used to threaten the foreigners by telling them that they were found involved in drug smuggling and money laundering among other crimes,” said Sangwan.

He also said that the illegal call centre had been running for almost six months, and bank account details of the owner are being gathered to know the exact amount of money extorted from the foreigners and the number of people targeted.

According to Sangwan, all the employees of the call centre knew that they were involved in illegal activities. He said that ₹2.5 lakh, two cellphones, and two CPUs were seized from the centre.

Yadav and his close associates would be taken on police remand for further interrogation, said the ACP. Yadav earlier worked as a supervisor at a call centre in Delhi for two years, and wanted to make quick money, following which he opened the illegal call centre, said the police.