Fake call centre busted in Mumbai, 11 arrested

He said since his earnings came down due to thelockdown, he sought a moratorium on loan repayment.According to the complainant, in November last year, aperson called him and offered to settle his dues worth Rs34,000 for Rs 17,500.

Police have busted a fake callcentre in suburban Ghatkopar and arrested six women and fivemen for allegedly duping people by posing as executives ofbanks and other firms to settle their loan dues, an officialsaid on Thursday.

After conducting a probe into a complaint of a 61-year-old Mumbai resident, the police raided the call centre onMonday and seized 132 SIM cards, 11 computers and sevenmobiles from the premises, he said.

The call centre was operating since April last yearand the accused, taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic,allegedly cheated people who had taken loans from banks andother financial companies by obtaining their details, theofficial from Shivaji Park police station said.

They would call the borrowers by posing as executivesfrom these firms and offer to settle their loans for much lessthan the outstanding amount, he said.

Last month, the complainant, who had taken loan fromtwo firms, approached the police alleging that he was duped ofRs 39,200. He said since his earnings came down due to thelockdown, he sought a moratorium on loan repayment.

According to the complainant, in November last year, aperson called him and offered to settle his dues worth Rs34,000 for Rs 17,500. After the complainant agreed, the callersent a person to his house to collect the amount.

Later, the complainant asked the caller to help insettling his another outstanding loan of Rs 1.4 lakh. Thecaller offered to settle it for for Rs 21,700.

Subsequently, he sent another person to thecomplainant's house to collect the cash, the official said.

However, last month, a representative of a financialcompany from where the complainant had taken loan came to hishouse to ask for the dues.

The complainant showed him the settlement letter andit was later found later that he was duped by fraudsters, theofficial said.

Later, the police managed to nab one of the accusedwho had collected money from the complainant, he said.

Based on information provided by the accused, thepolice raided the call centre and nabbed 10 other people, theofficial said.

A case has been registered against the accused underrelevant sections, the police added.