Delhi: 18 held in fake call centre swindle targeting US citizens

With the arrest of 18 persons the Delhi Polices Crime Branch have busted an fake call centre allegedly involved in swindling American citizens under the guise of offering customer support an official saidAccording to Special Commissioner of Police Crime Ravindra Singh Yadav specific information was received about an illegal international call centre operating in the Vasant Kunj area of southwest DelhiThe call centre targeted US citizens deceiving them under the pretense of providing technical support on behalf of Microsoft ICLed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Goel a raid was conducted at the call centre premises where the accused individuals were found engaged in online cheating by impersonating tech support executivesThe raid yielded the discovery of 12 functional laptops connected via two routers which were used by 14 telecallers The laptops contained applications like Micro SIP and X lite as well as recordings of customer interactions and scripted conversations said the Special CPAll 14 telecallers were present during the raid and three other persons involved in the operation were also arrestedThey were identified as Armaan 25 Ranveer Singh 27 and Ravinder Singh 28 all residents of Jalandhar in Punjab Additionally Aman Duggal arrested in Gurugram was linked to the operation at the instance of Ranveer SinghThe questioning of the accused persons revealed that the premises were rented by Maninder alias Sonu who along with Aman Duggal and Ranveer Singh had a partnership in running the fake call centreThe call centers modus operandi involved displaying popups on customers laptopscomputer systems showing the contact number of the fake call centre Victims would then fall into the trap of the fraudulent operation through these popups Telecallers would falsely inform the victims that their laptopssystems had been hacked prompting them to seek technical support via the tollfree number provided in the popups The telecallers followed a prewritten script on their laptops during conversations with the victims the Special CP addedThe fraudsters would also threaten the victims by claiming that child pornography content had been downloaded onto their systems which is a a serious offenceTo purportedly save the customers and resolve the fabricated issue the scammers demanded money The victims would comply by withdrawing money from their respective banks and purchasing gift cards which they deposited through bitcoin said the officialAfter receiving the demanded money the victims transferred the amount to the vendors through bitcoin using QR codes provided by the accusedThe profits were then distributed among Sonu Aman Duggal and Ranveer who in turn provided a commission of two to four per cent to their supervisors Ravinder and Armaan It was also discovered that the call centre owner provided accommodation on the same premises to all telecallers and supervisors the official addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever