Fake call centre busted in Gurugram, 6 held for cheating foreign nationals

The police have busted a fake call centre here and arrested six people who allegedly cheated foreign nationals, mostly in the US and Canada, on the pretext of providing technical support, officials said on Wednesday.

The police have busted a fake call centre here and arrested six people who allegedly cheated foreign nationals, mostly in the US and Canada, on the pretext of providing technical support, officials said on Wednesday. Those arrested have been identified as Abhilash Singh, the manager of the centre, Thachang Tungshanao, Vikas Bhadana, Paras Sood, Avinash and Ram Bishua, they said.

The owner of the centre, identified as Sachin Taneja, is absconding and raids are being conducted to nab him, police said. The fake call centre was being run in a rented house in sector 42 area, police said, adding that six laptops and a modem were seized. The accused duped US and Canada nationals by sending messages in the name of technical support and removal of virus from laptops and desktops on behalf of companies like Nortan Antivirus, MCafee and Webroot, police said. ''The accused sent bulk voice mail / messages and duped foreigners through pop ups in the name of technical support. By taking remote access of their computer, laptops through Dialler/X-Lite Application, they take about USD 200 to 500 per customer to get the computer system repaired. They charged through gift cards only,'' said police.

An FIR has been registered against the accused under sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and sections 66-D and 75 of IT act at the cybercrime police station (east).

''This fake call centre was being operated for the last one year in the rented house by Taneja. The arrested accused revealed that they were getting Rs 45,000 per month salary. ''We are questioning the accused and conducting raids to nab the mastermind. So far, they have cheated hundreds of people from whom they have duped crores of rupees'', said Preet Pal Singh Sangwan, ACP, crime.