Gurugram Police Uncover Fraudulent Call Centre, Arrest 18 Individuals
Click to start listening
Gurugram, Dec 19 (NationPress) A team from the Cybercrime division of the Gurugram police successfully shut down an unlawful call centre situated at Plot No 270 in Udyog Vihar, Phase-2 on Wednesday, with the police releasing the information on Thursday.
This fraudulent call centre primarily targeted US citizens, deceiving them under the guise of offering technical support by constructing a counterfeit website for an accounting firm, according to police statements.
Following a tip-off, a cybercrime police team led by ACP Priyanshu Diwan conducted a raid, resulting in the arrest of 18 individuals, including 8 women, and the operator of the call centre. They also confiscated 17 CPUs and various electronic devices.
The suspects have been named as Gaurav Bakshi, Debashish Chatterjee, Anmol, Kanishk, Ajeesh Mathew, Kunal, Devender Devgn, Hitesh Malik, Rohit Singh, Aryaman Thakur, Nidhi, Sita, Muskan Rajput, Bhavana, Shivani, Lahinganhat Haikip Sharon, and Nagmathingcho.
The police have filed charges against the accused under sections 318 (4) and 319 of the BNS and the IT Act at Police Station Cyber Crime South, Gurugram, following regulatory procedures.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Gaurav Bakshi was the call centre's operator, managing operations with his associates at the direction of another partner.
Bakshi received a salary of approximately Rs 1.5 lakh, while his employees earned around Rs 30,000 monthly.
“We received credible information about a fraudulent call centre that deceived numerous US nationals under the guise of technical support. The young individuals employed there operated without a license from the Department of Telecommunications (DOT),” stated Priyanshu Diwan, ACP (Cybercrime).
The illegal call centre had been operational since February 2024, targeting foreign nationals with claims of offering customer care services for software and accounting support. The suspects ran advertisements on Google featuring the customer care helpline of a well-known company. When foreign nationals dialed the toll-free number, their calls were redirected to the fraudulent call centre through VCL Dialer and 3CX Dialer, as reported by the police.
“The perpetrators presented themselves as representatives of a reputable company, gaining remote access to the computers of foreign nationals by persuading them to install screen-sharing applications. Under the pretext of resolving their issues, they extorted between 200 to 1000 dollars via a payment gateway. They executed the scam by fabricating a phishing website for an accounting service called Quick Books,” Diwan elaborated.
“The investigation is ongoing. We are probing how the accused managed to operate the fraudulent call centre, and we cannot dismiss the possibility of other accomplices. The suspects are currently in police custody for further interrogation,” the officer concluded.
