Illegal call centre busted on Gurugram’s Sohna Road; nine held

The call centre allegedly duped US nationals by offering them grants as employees of the Federal Grants Department, Washington DC, police said. The grants offered by them ranged between $9,000 and $34,000 and were intimated by fake letters to the victims who were charged afterwards via gift cards

Police and the chief minister’s flying squad busted an illegal call centre on Sohna Road late on Tuesday night and arrested nine people, including the owners. The call centre allegedly duped US nationals by offering them grants as employees of the Federal Grants Department, Washington DC, police said. The grants offered by them ranged between $9,000 and $34,000 and were intimated by fake letters to the victims who were charged afterwards via gift cards.

This is the first time a fake call centre has been busted which was involved in cryptocurrency, police said. (HT Photo)

According to cops, the CM’s squad received a tip-off on Monday about an illegal call centre operating from the seventh floor of a commercial tower in Sector 48. Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), CM’s flying squad, said that a police team patrolled the area and raided the office. “At least 15 employees, including three women, were present on the floor. They were found calling potential targets abroad and offering them grants, charging anywhere between $200 and $1,600 through gift vouchers and cryptocurrency,” he informed.

Yadav said that the gift card numbers were sent to a Delhi resident who utilised them for purchasing cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin. “The suspects were unable to provide us with the company’s registration certificate, a licence from the department of telecommunications, mode of payment and source of customers, among others. The total amount of money taken from the victims and the number of people involved in the fraud will become clear only after a thorough investigation,” he said.

The suspects were identified as Satyendra aka Sam, Ankis Sachdeva, both residents of Delhi, Abhisawan Sabarwal, Eklavya, and Vishal Vishwakarma from Uttar Pradesh, along with Thomsang, Chokhauni, and Magoi Ganglui from Manipur. A case was registered against them under sections 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66 D and 75 of the Information Technology Act, at Sadar Police station on Wednesday. Police recovered ₹1.5 lakh in cash, four laptops, and three CPUs from their possession

According to Sanjeev Balhara, assistant commissioner of police (crime), the owners took the office on rent six months ago for ₹85,000 a month. “They bought data and provided each team member with a list of 50 US citizens every day. The details given to them included the names, mobile numbers and emails of the foreign nationals,” he said.

Balhara further informed that they are questioning the suspects who have divulged crucial details about their operations. This is the first time a fake call centre has been busted which was involved in cryptocurrency. “The call centre duped more than 2000 US nationals. Earlier, the centre operated from other areas but shut operations during the Covid-19. They resumed work in April this year,” he said.