Illegal call centre busted, seven arrested

An illegal call centre that was operating from a commercial building in Palam Vihar was busted on Wednesday morning and seven persons were arrested for allegedly duping US citizens of money over the last four months, the police said

An illegal call centre that was operating from a commercial building in Palam Vihar was busted on Wednesday morning and seven persons were arrested for allegedly duping US citizens of money over the last four months, the police said.

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Callers posed as officials of law enforcement agencies and threatened to cancel their social security numbers (SSN) if they did not pay a fine, officials said. Data of US citizens, one laptop, one hard disk and ₹1.90 lakh were recovered from their possession. The police said that at least 2,000 people based in the US were targeted.

A case was registered on Wednesday at Cyber police station under sections 420 (cheating), 120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66D and 75 of the IT Act.

The suspects were identified as Akshay Dalal (32) of Madhya Pradesh, the kingpin, who lived in a society on Sohna Road, while the others were Naganginaliy Hangal (27), Siminlal Tuthang (28), Skuyuravasi (26), Vikato Achoomi (24), Imlong (26) and Mangacha Baithe (30), who belong to Nagaland and Manipur, said police.

Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police, crime investigation department (CID), said that they received a tip-off late Monday. “The kingpin, Dalal, had taken up an office on rent in Ansal Corporate Plaza on the first floor and was paying ₹65,000 a month. The call centre was operational since January this year. These suspects were duping US nationals and were taking money through gift cards and Pay Pal,” he said.

Harish Budhiraja, inspector, chief minister’s flying squad, said that they conducted a reconnaissance of the area on Tuesday. “There were six men and three women making calls in the room. They all were graduates who had work experience at other call centres. There were around 15 workstations and training was given to the employees before hitting the floor. They also set up a toll-free number, to which they received calls from their targets,” he said.

The police said the suspects had developed several fake websites, which would direct the victims to call the toll-free number for assistance. The police estimate that they made over ₹2 crore in the last three months as the workers were paid ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 per month.

The police said the confiscated hardware will be sent to a laboratory in Madhuban, Karnal, for forensic examination. “Payment was generally done through virtual gateways, credit and debit cards, gift cards, iTunes cards,” said Yadav, adding that the call centre used to earn nearly ₹3 lakh a day.

The police said the exact number of victims and the amount of money siphoned may be higher than anticipated. “We are also getting a forensic audit of the seized property,” Yadav said.