Fake call centre duping US citizens busted in Noida, 16 held

The police teams recovered photocopies of drivers’ licences of 17 American citizens, 27 American citizens’ phone order data sheet, 10 print outs of contact numbers of US citizens, a car, mobile phone, computer sets, monitor headphones, hard disk and other incriminating documents from the suspects

​ The Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) and the Gautam Budh Nagar police on Saturday busted a fake call centre allegedly cheating American citizens by taking their social security numbers and other personal details on the pretext of renewing insurance policies, senior officers of the task force said on Monday.

The suspects in police custody along with the seized items. (HT Photo)

The team carried out a search operation at the bogus call centre in Phase-1 area of Noida and arrested 16 suspects, including five women, they added.

According to Raj Kumar Mishra, additional superintendent of Police, STF Noida, the police teams recovered photocopies of drivers’ licences of 17 American citizens, 27 American citizens’ phone order data sheet, 10 print outs of contact numbers of US citizens, a car, mobile phone, computer sets, monitor headphones, hard disk and other incriminating documents from the suspects.

This is the second consecutive bust by the STF of fake call centres targeting foreign nationals, senior officers said. Earlier, the STF and Greater Noida police arrested 24 people for executing a similar cyber fraud on the pretext of renewing insurance policies of American citizens, from a flat in Greater Noida West area.

“A US national named Devon Mitchell had complained to the Uttar Pradesh Police that his money had been transferred from his Bank of America account to an HSBC account in Hong Kong, which was linked to Noida. When the police formed a team and started an investigation, it was found that a fake call centre was running in Noida Sector 3 and they were targeting Americans,” said Mishra.

The main suspect, Nitin Srivastava, is still on the run, he said.

“Among the 16 people arrested is the main suspect’s partner Divya Sharma (28), a resident of Paramount Golf Foreste society in Surajpur, Greater Noida. He said he and Nitin have been running the fake call centre since the past five years. To avoid arrest, he used to change locations frequently,” said the officer.

The suspects used to procure data of US citizens on the dark web, and paid for it through cryptocurrency, he said.

“The 15 people working at the fake call centre were hired by Srivastava and his partner Sharma, and are residents of nearby cities including Noida, Delhi and Ghaziabad. The arrested suspects have been booked under charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and relevant sections of the IT act at the Phase-1 police station,” said the officer.