Major call centre racket duping US citizens busted in Gurgaon, 33 arrested

The police got a whiff of this scam while investigating a fraud concerning foreign clients of a multi-national firm based in Gurgaon, who were being duped by the Gurgaon-based operators.

Gurgaon

33 persons working as managers and team leaders were arrested from these call centres while over 250 employees were included in the investigation. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

A major call centre racket operating separately from different buildings in Udyog Vihar Phase 5, which allegedly duped American and other foreign citizens by offering them loans, lotteries and tax benefits, was busted by Gurgaon police late on Monday night.

The police got a whiff of this scam while investigating a fraud concerning foreign clients of a multi-national firm based in Gurgaon, who were being duped by the Gurgaon-based operators.

In the raids on Monday night, police said 33 persons working as managers and team leaders were arrested from these call centres while over 250 employees were included in the investigation. The police also seized a large number of laptops, computers and other IT equipment used in the con operation. The accused were booked under sections 406, 419 and 66 of the IT Act.

Upon questioning the employees, the police found that the owners of Gurgaon-based racket were Nitin Dahiya, a Gurgaon resident, Rohit Kumar resident of Noida and Shahrukh Khan a Delhi resident. The owners of another call centre were identified as Rohit Rajvansh, a resident of Lodhi Colony and Rahul Shrivastav, resident of Dwarka.

The police suspects that the accused were managing operations on behalf of a mastermind or kingpin, who hails from Gujarat and is based abroad.

Among those arrested was a national from Ghana. Those arrested told police that they would call foreign nationals and tell them that they had won a lottery, or could get a loan, or they were calling from the tax department. “Seven cases have been registered against the accused for running the call centres without any permission, lease agreement or authorisation”, said Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, Gurgaon. The workers at these call centres were paid salary in cash.

“The victims were asked to pay money through iTunes card from which cash could be transferred,” said Kuhar. He, however, refused to indicate the amount of money siphoned and how the money was brought from abroad.

Given wide ramifications of this call centre fraud, Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said, “This is a major operation as money was funnelled through Hawala channels. We will write to the enforcement directorate if the need arises.”