Illegal call centre busted for duping loan seekers

Seven people, including a sales promoter associated with a telecom service providing company, were arrested for cheating more than 500 loan aspirants to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore in the last two years, officials said.

An illegal call centre running from outer Delhi’s Ranhola and cheating people in the name of providing loans from a leading financial services company has been busted by Delhi Police’s cyber cell unit (CyPAD).

Police said the call centre was busted following an investigation into a complaint filed by one Pawan Kumar, who was cheated of nearly Rs 2.19 lakh in name of providing a personal loan of Rs 10 lakh. Photograph: ABHIJIT BHATLEKAR/MINT (Representative Image)

Seven people, including a sales promoter associated with a telecom service providing company, were arrested for cheating more than 500 loan aspirants to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore in the last two years, officials said.

Deputy commissioner of police (CyPAD) Anyesh Roy said the arrested sales promoter, Pawan Mittal, is not an employee of the company but a third-party promoter.

Mittal used to activate SIM cards by illegally using documents and photographs of foreigners who had submitted them to get new numbers during their stay in India. The illegally activated SIM cards were used for contacting loan seekers with an intent to dupe them and avoid getting caught by law enforcement agencies, Roy said.

“As the SIM cards were activated using foreigners’ documents and photographs, it became difficult to identify and nab the fraudsters,” the DCP said.

Kumar was trying to get a personal loan online when he came across a phone number that claimed to be associated with a leading financial services company.

“Kumar called on that number and was assured a loan at a lucrative interest rate. He was tricked into paying around R2.19 lakh as processing fee and other charges. To win his confidence, he was sent an email from an ID that looked similar to the company’s official email ID,” said the officer.

The loan-seeker knew he was duped when he did not receive the money and the number on which he contacted the loan provider was deactivated. A cheating case was registered on his complaint.

During the probe, DCP Roy said, the investigating team established the money trail and through technical surveillance traced the call centre to Rahnola.

“We first arrested Mittal who had activated the number used to call the complainant. His interrogation led to the arrest of the leader, Mohammad Irfan Saifi, who earlier worked as a telecaller at an insurance company,” he said.

The other arrested persons are Vishal Tiwari, Vidhata, Amit Kumar, Gyan Singh and Rishabh Mohammad. Saifi told police that they cheated 20-25 people every month through the call centre he had established two years ago.