Pimpri-Chinchwad police bust interstate fake call centre racket, 5 held
Accused allegedly duped people from Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad on pretext of repairing their refrigerators, washing machines and other electronic home appliances
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Wednesday busted a fake call centre running in Mumbai and arrested five people and apprehended three minor girls.
Police said accused allegedly duped people from Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad on pretext of repairing their refrigerators, washing machines and other electronic home appliances.
The accused have been identified as, Rafiq Abdul Lalit Chaudhari ( 28) resident of Chikhali, Mohamad Firoj (21) resident of Dapodi, Ashok Kumar Mali (31), Jayprakash Dhukram Mali (27) and Paras Kumar Gauraram Mali (21) all are residents of Malad, Mumbai.
A complaint was filed on July 28 by Arun Gulab Dumbare, a resident of Wakad.
As per the complainant, he browsed the internet and found a customer care number of a multi-national company, and booked a technician to repair a refrigerator. A man posed as an employee of the company and visited his house. He charged ₹3,250 to replace a part, but never returned.
According to police, the accused posted six fake toll free numbers posing as employees of prominent multi-national companies and duped people on the pretext of repairing their home appliances. After repairing home appliances, accused would generate fake company invoices in the name of the customers.
Vivek Muglikar senior police inspector at Hinjewadi police station said, “During our raid it was found that the they operated professionally and employees were arrested.”
During interrogation, it was revealed that the prime accused Mali had eight technicians in Mumbai and two each in Ahmedabad and Pune to cater customers in the locality. Mali was operating the entire fake customer care business from Pimpripada area of Malad in Mumbai. Police have seized seven android mobile phones, 17 other mobile handsets, notebooks, registers of worth ₹1,14,500.
Speaking about the modus operandi police sub-inspector Mahendra Gadhave said, “They were running a 24X7 call centre. As soon as they received a call, the information of the customer was taken and shared with the other technicians and one of them would be assigned as per the location.These semi-skilled technicians visited the customer and asked for an advance payment to replace a part of the appliance and never returned.”
According to the police, the accused has been running the business since 2016 and were initially working in a small team. After the pandemic they expanded and hired employees as tele callers.
A case has been registered at the Hinjewadi police station under Sections 419 ( punishment for cheating),420 (cheating and dishonestly ) 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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Pimpri-Chicnhwad police have appealed people to reach out if they have been duped on the pretext of repairing home appliances by dialling any of these number 18008433008 , 18004178083, 18004194847, 18004198083, 18004158683, 18001038441. They can reach out to the police on 9518510393.