Mohali Cyber Crime Police has arrested eight people including a woman while busting an illegal international call center involved in a fraud of Rs 50 crore. This call center was running illegally in Sector-91. The staff working here had cheated people of about Rs 50 crore through online scam. The accused used to make false claims by sending dangerous messages to people and then robbed them by posing as officers themselves.
The cyber crime team led by Cyber Crime and Forensic DSP Rupinderdeep Kaur Sohi carried out this operation and arrested the fraudsters. A branch of this call center is running abroad. A case has been registered against the accused in Police Station Cyber Crime Phase-7 under Section 318 (4), 61 (2) of BNS and Section 66-D of IT Act.
Mohali SP Sirivennela said that information was received about an illegal call center being operated in Flat No. 501 of Acme Eden Court Society Sector-91. Immediately raids were conducted and the accused were arrested. The accused have been identified as Abhishek Pandey, resident of Wadala East, Mumbai, Akshay Kumar, resident of Bahu Fort, Jammu and Kashmir, Pradeep Das, resident of Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh, Amit Tiwari of West Bengal, Mukul Singh, resident of Kangra, Himachal, Shaun Sakin, Arfin Sadiq and Arpita Sarvavidya, residents of Kolkata. 12 laptops used in the fraud, 14 mobiles used to communicate with the victims and a Scorpio car have been recovered from the accused.
This is how they used to commit fraud
The accused used to send menacing messages to people falsely claiming that they have purchased crypto currency and money will be deducted from their bank account. The messages also provided contact numbers for assistance. When the victims called on the given numbers, the fraudsters, posing as officials, made them share personal and banking details and forced them to transfer money through gift cards, e-vouchers or direct bank transfer. This illegal work was going on for the last six months and in the preliminary investigation, the amount of fraud is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore. Work is on to identify the co-accused and trace their financial links. The investigation is still on and more arrests or property seizures are likely.
