Fake call centre busted in Malad; 19 held

The call centre, allegedly operated by M-Fins Services Pvt Ltd, was located on the third floor of SEZ Plaza in Malad. Police said the accused targeted people with offers of lifetime franchises in exchange for a specified investment

MUMBAI: A Malad call centre allegedly promising people “lifetime franchises” of e-commerce and e-courier companies turned out to be a bogus operation, police said. Acting on a tip-off, the Bangur Nagar police raided the premises on Wednesday, arrested 19 people, including the alleged owner, and seized computers, mobile phones and other equipment worth around ₹15 lakh.

Fake call centre busted in Malad; 19 held

The call centre, allegedly operated by M-Fins Services Pvt Ltd, was located on the third floor of SEZ Plaza in Malad. Police said the accused targeted people with offers of lifetime franchises in exchange for a specified investment.

To make the offer appear genuine, the accused allegedly created the impression that agreements had been signed with reputed e-commerce and e-courier companies. Investors were persuaded to part with their money on the promise of running these businesses, but no franchises were actually provided after the payments were made, police said.

During the raid, officers recovered computers, mobile phones and other equipment worth around ₹15 lakh. They also found a file containing agreements, which allegedly revealed that the call centre owner had invested money in franchises from four companies but had failed to secure the promised business operations or get the security deposits refunded.

Police also found that team leaders, managers and employees had been given SIM cards from a private company to facilitate the alleged fraudulent calls and transactions.

The raid came a week after the Crime Branch had busted another alleged bogus call centre in Malad operating a similar “lifetime franchise” scheme. After receiving information that another centre was allegedly running the same type of operation, senior police inspector Jaywant Pawar formed a team led by police inspector Yuvraj Dalvi to verify the information.

Consequently, the team raided the centre on Wednesday and detained 19 people, including the alleged owner Santosh Sohanlal Gupta.

A case has been registered against the 19 accused for fraud under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. Police are questioning the accused and investigating the extent of the alleged racket.