New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) Delhi Police have busted a fake call centre in Delhi's Uttam Nagar which scammed more than 1700 people on the pretext of providing them loans and arrested 12 people in this connection, an official said on Wednesday.
Police said that the fake call centre was disguised as a medicine supply store.
According to M Harsha Vardhan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), specific inputs were received regarding an illegal call centre being run at Uttam Nagar and that it is cheating people on the pretext of providing a loan.
"The call centre was being run by Faisal, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and his team. On inquiry, Faisal misled the police team by saying that he is running the call centre for selling and advertising the medicines," said the DCP.
"He had even kept some medicines on the counter to mislead police. However, on sustained interrogation, it was revealed that all the employees were working as customer support agents and they used to call the customers for offering loans," said the official.
"They then used to provide the bank account details and ask the customers to deposit a processing fee amount in that bank account," said the official.
"One Paras, a resident of Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad had taken the place on which call centre was operating on lease. He is absconding in this case. Efforts are being made to nab him," said the DCP.
"Apart from Paras, three other persons are also involved in this fraud syndicate who used to provide backend services like bank accounts for collecting the money and fraud SIM cards, advertising or sending bulk SMS regarding loan on mobile numbers. Their details are being ascertained in this case and efforts are being made to nab these accused persons," said the DCP.
"The call centre has been running since February 2022. As per the scrutiny of the registers and further interrogation, it has come to light that the accused had cheated more than 1700 innocent people," said the DCP.
"Total 29 registers containing a list of contacted persons depicting money and amount transactions were recovered. The amount cheated from these persons is likely to exceed Rs 1 crore," said the official.
"A total of 12 persons, including six women, were working in the call centre and were nabbed by a police team on the spot," said the official.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister's office said all domestic consumers in the state would be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle. This will give a big reprieve to the domestic consumers who have to hitherto shell out huge money every month in the form of power tariff.
On receiving information about the incident, SP City Dinesh Kumar Singh, along with police force, reached the spot. The injured youths were sent to the hospital for treatment and the matter is being investigated.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
