Delhi Police bust illegal call centre in Pitampura, 11 held for ₹100 crore US fraud
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
The Delhi Police's Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit on 21 September 2026 raided an illegal international call centre operating out of rented premises in Pitampura, New Delhi, arresting or apprehending 11 individuals — including two women — for allegedly defrauding victims in the United States of approximately ₹100 crore through an elaborate tech-support scam. The bust is among the largest cybercrime seizures recorded in the capital this year.
How the Raid Unfolded
Acting on intelligence developed by IFSO teams, a raiding party led by Inspector Data Ram, under the supervision of ACP Prem Chandra Khanduri and the overall guidance of DCP (IFSO) Gaurav Tyagi, descended on House No. 249, Shivaji Market, Pitampura Village on 21 September 2026. Officers found 11 persons actively operating a high-tech call centre across the third and fourth floors of the rented building. A formal case — FIR No. 224/2026 — was registered on 22 September at the Special Cell police station under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 61(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as well as Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
Police seized ₹41 lakh in cash, 29 laptops, 25 mobile phones, eight routers, and a car from the premises.
The Fraud Mechanism
According to investigators, the syndicate executed a multi-stage tech-support scam targeting US residents. A back-end team would remotely install malware on victims' computers, triggering pop-up alerts directing them to call a toll-free helpline. Calls were then routed to the Pitampura centre via Micro-SIP, a soft-phone application, where trained agents followed scripted dialogues, falsely claiming the victims' systems had been compromised.
Victims were next persuaded to install UltraViewer, granting operators remote access to their machines. A second layer of deception followed, with a person posing as a bank official — using US-based numbers generated through Google Voice — warning that the victims' bank accounts were also at risk. The fraudsters operated under anglicised aliases such as Williams, Rayan, Sofi, Genny, and Alex.
Gift Cards, Bitcoin and Forged FBI Letters
Victims were induced to purchase gift cards — including iTunes, Sephora, Target, and Google Pay cards — as a purported remedy for the alleged technical or banking breach. In select cases, victims were also persuaded to transfer cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin. Gift-card details were reportedly shared via WhatsApp groups with senior syndicate members for redemption or encashment.
Notably, the syndicate allegedly circulated forged communications purportedly issued by the FBI and other US federal agencies to intimidate victims and lend the scam a veneer of official legitimacy — a tactic increasingly common in transnational cyber-fraud operations targeting English-speaking markets.
The Accused
The 11 individuals arrested or apprehended have been identified as: Kawal Preet Singh alias Sunny Singh, 43, of Shiv Nagar, Janakpuri; Prashant Nanda, 29, of Hari Nagar Ashram; Akshat Singh alias Shivam, 25, of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh; Chitra Narah, 27, of Pitampura Village; Rohan Jairath, 31, of Arya Samaj Road, Uttam Nagar; Gaurav Saklani, 24, of Canal Road, Dehradun; Sachin Ghildiyal alias Sachin Sharma, 26, of Pradhan Enclave, Burari; Irshad Rahman, 22, of Goal Para, Assam; Navneet alias Naveen, 28, of Pitampura Village, Shivaji Market; Nigthoujam, 25, of Assam; and Phebo Wangshu, 27, of Arunachal Pradesh. The geographic spread of the accused — spanning Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh — points to a recruitment network that drew from multiple states.
What Comes Next
Further investigation is underway, with police expected to trace the financial trail of the gift-card redemptions and the cryptocurrency transfers. Authorities are also likely to probe whether the syndicate had handlers operating outside India. This case forms part of a broader IFSO crackdown on Delhi-based cybercrime networks with overseas victims — a pattern that has accelerated sharply since 2024.