NOIDA: Behind the glass doors of an otherwise legitimate office in Noida, investigators say, two parallel operations ran side by side — one licensed and lawful, the other designed to deceive hundreds of people across state lines in the name of insurance policies.
A Call Centre With Two Faces
When police raided a premises in Noida’s Sector 63 this week, they did not find a shadowy setup hidden in a basement or a fly-by-night operation hastily assembled. Instead, officers encountered what appeared to be a functioning, licensed call centre — complete with systems used for interactive voice response (IVR) calls and staff handling policy-related queries.
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According to investigators, that appearance was deliberate. The suspects, part of a network involving more than 100 people, allegedly ran a dual operation from the same facility. One team handled legitimate calls on behalf of two authorised insurance firms, speaking to customers about policy renewals, bonuses and routine services. Another team, segregated from the first, focused exclusively on what police describe as “false calling” — contacting individuals in the name of insurance companies they were not authorised to represent.
The separation of roles, police said, was intended to keep the fraudulent activity insulated from scrutiny while benefiting from the credibility and infrastructure of a lawful business.
How Victims Were Targeted and Duped
The investigation began with a complaint from a woman in Maharashtra who reported being cheated online. Police say she was contacted with promises of improved returns or special renewal benefits linked to insurance policies. Once she transferred money, communication abruptly stopped.
Officers now believe this pattern was repeated across hundreds of cases. Callers allegedly posed as representatives of insurance companies, offering benefits that appeared plausible to policyholders. Victims were often located in distant states, a factor police say reduced the likelihood of immediate follow-up or in-person complaints.
To conceal the money trail, investigators allege, the suspects routed funds through multiple mule bank accounts — accounts held in the names of third parties — and used fake SIM cards. The proceeds were then redistributed among members of the group, making it harder to trace individual responsibility. Police say the scale of the operation suggests a structured racket rather than isolated acts of deception
Inside the Network and the Seizures
At least 13 people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged fraud. Police identified the accused as Chhatrapal Sharma, 32, whom they described as the kingpin, along with Satyam, 30; Sameer, 33; Raj Saluddin, 30; Ishwar Karmali, 31; Suhail, 34; Vivek Kumar, 36; Sumit Kumar, 28; Mohd Asif, 30; Rajiv Kumar, 33; Suhail, 30; Mithilesh, 29; and Hariom, 36.
During the operation, officers seized two laptops, a modem, a telecaller device, 31 mobile phones and 721 datasheets containing details of alleged victims. Investigators said these records were used to systematically contact and track targets.
The presence of extensive victim data, police noted, points to an organised approach that relied on scale and repetition rather than one-off impersonation attempts.
Charges and the Broader Inquiry
A case has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including provisions relating to cheating, cheating by personation, forgery, and using forged documents or electronic records as genuine. Sections of the Information Technology Act have also been invoked.
Officials said the inquiry is ongoing and that investigators are examining financial transactions and call records to identify additional suspects and possible links to other fraudulent operations. Police have not ruled out further arrests.
