Fake Call Centre Busted In Gurgaon, Two Arrested For Duping US Citizens

GURUGRAM: Gurgaon Police have unearthed a fake call centre that was allegedly involved in extorting money from foreigners by claiming that their social security numbers were being “misused” and would be blocked if they did not pay amounts ranging from $100 to $800.

According to police, two people have been arrested for the crime so far – Akshay Kumar from Delhi and Bisho Singh from Manipur.

Gurgaon police raided the call centre after receiving a tip that an illegal calling business was operating from Sector 40.

“A team was immediately dispatched to the scene to conduct a raid, and it was discovered that the office had been rented 6 to 7 months ago for use as a call centre, with eight men and six women were employed,” said Inspector Vipin, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Cyber Crime police station.

“During questioning, the employees, as well as the accused who were later arrested, revealed that the owner of the call centre would purchase data from two different websites and upload it to his server,” he said.

Bulk voice mails would be sent to 3,000 to 4,000 people daily, claiming that the call was from the ‘Social Security Administration’ and informing the recipient that “there is a legal Enforcements action filed on your Social Security number for fraudulent activities.” The message would then instruct recipients to press one to be connected to “the concerned departments,” and would warn them that “if we don’t hear from you, your social will be permanently blocked.”

“In order to avoid legal action, the victim would press one and the call would be connected to the call centre, where employees would threaten to block their social security numbers and ask for payments ranging from $100 to $800,” said the SHO.

According to police, an FIR has been filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.

“Investigations are underway to apprehend the three men who actually owned the call centre, identified as Rohit, Bhavesh, from Gujarat, and Harshdeep, from Odisha,” said Inspector Vipin.