Two arrested for running fake call centre in Haryana’s Gurugram

Police said their employees used to call United States citizens posing as representatives of a large online retailer. They would tell the intended victims that someone had used their online accounts to purchase iPhones

Two persons were arrested for allegedly running an illegal call centre from the basement of a house in Sector 44 in Gurugram and duping United States (US) nationals of money.

Acting on a tip-off, the police searched the call centre on Wednesday night and found that employees were engaged in calling US nationals despite having no licence or permission to run such a facility. (Representational image.)

Acting on a tip-off, the police searched the call centre on Wednesday night and found that employees were engaged in calling US nationals despite having no licence or permission to run such a facility. The police said a case under Section 75 of IT Act, 2000, Section 66D of IT Act, 2008, and sections 120B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Cyber Crime police station on Thursday.

The two suspects have been identified as Nikhil Kumar and Jitender Sharma, who had taken the basement on rent in August 2021, and started running the fake call centre, said police.

Police said their employees used to call US citizens posing as representatives of a large online retailer. They would tell the intended victims that someone had used their online accounts to purchase iPhones.

The employees of the bogus call centre would “assure the US citizens that they would resolve the problem” and then ask them to pay a fee between USD 300-500 by purchasing gift cards. The numbers of these gift cards are then obtained from the intended victim and the money is transferred fraudulently, said police.

During questioning, the employees said they used a database of US citizens, which was obtained by their employers online, said police.

The police also said the two men failed to furnish any permission for operating the call centre. A number of items, including computers, phones and other documents were seized from the office.

Subash Boken, spokesperson, Gurugram police, said, “The matter is being probed.”