Over the past 24 hours, Punjab police have busted two fake call centres based in Mohali operating under the cybercrime division. People settling in foreign countries were targeted by the illegal units operating from Industrial Area Phase-7 and Phase-8B by offering "maintenance services" for computers and electronic items, before tricking them into sending online payments into their bank accounts to get the money. The Cyber Crime Division of the Punjab Police broke up two fake call centres that had been running in Mohali over the past two days in an overnight operation.
According to the Punjab Police, over 155 employees of these call centres were arrested over the weekend. According to the police, the accused made fraudulent calls to individuals living in the United States (US). Those fake call centres were both located in Sector 74 in Mohali and are being operated by Gujarat-based kingpins who are currently evading arrest. As a result of the police investigation, they are being hunted for.
Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav confirmed that he had initiated preliminary investigations that showed fake call centres operating during the nighttime and using the callers to dupe foreign nationals into purchasing gift cards from companies such as Target, Apple, Amazon, etc. A team manager used to collect the gift cards and share them with the kingpins. He added that the kingpins then used the gift cards to redeem them.
Following the arrest of 155 employees working as dialers, closes, bankers and floor managers at these centres on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, the DGP said he had zeroed in on the locations, and teams raided and searched both centres on Tuesday and Wednesday night. A press conference was held in which V Neeraja, the ADGP Cyber Crime, stated that “Integration inputs about fake call centres were developed by Inspector Gaganpreet Singh and Inspector Daljit Singh as well as their team in conjunction with assistance from the Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Center (DITAC) lab of cybercrime, with technical assistance from the DIAC lab.
A police team headed by DSP Prabhjot Kaur raided the fake call centres under the supervision of SP Cybercrime Jashandeep Singh and the supervision of SP Cybercrime Jashandeep Singh after identifying the locations. According to police officials, the scammers employed various methods of operating, including claiming low-interest loans that were fake, even if their credit scores were poor, and charging money for them. It is believed that the kingpins manipulated customers by asking them to buy gift cards to be able to get a loan, which was then redeemed immediately.
The three primary methods that the callers used to dupe gullible Americans living in the United States could be described as follows: It was mostly carried out using phone calls to Americans with low credit scores by offering them loans with low interest rates. To facilitate the loan process, the callers would require the victims to buy gift cards to get the loans approved. The kingpin would redeem a victim's gift card at the moment when he noticed that the victim had bought a gift card from him.
The purpose of payday is to allow people to transfer money overseas through a payment platform. To carry out this project, the perpetrators will pose as representatives of Amazon on the phone to scare their victims. As a result, the callers would claim that the parcel they ordered contained illegal items, and the federal police would be informed as soon as the parcel was delivered. For the scammers to cancel the order, they would then ask for money through some cash app or the purchase of an Amazon gift card through one of their scam apps.
Using a separate phone call for confirmation, the person would pretend to be a banker and would indicate how much money is to be paid and what account number has to be used for the payment. Gift cards are often also asked to be purchased by victims so that they can receive compensation.
The Punjab Police have successfully dismantled two major fraudulent call centres, resulting in the arrest of 155 employees. These individuals were involved in a complex scam operation wherein they shared the numbers on gift cards with their partners in the United States, who would immediately redeem them.
The illicitly obtained money was subsequently transferred to the kingpins in India through the Hawala system.
According to police reports, brokers played a pivotal role in providing customer information and data to these fake call centres. The centres then used specialized software to data mine and identify target groups for their fraudulent calls. The arrested individuals occupied various roles within the operation, including dialers, closers, bankers, and floor managers.
The Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) reported that law enforcement teams confiscated 79 desktop computers, 204 laptops, mobile phones, and other accessories, as well as scripts used for training employees on how to communicate with potential victims.
Neeraja, an official involved in the operation, disclosed that out of the 155 individuals arrested, 18 have been placed on police remand while the remaining suspects have been sent to judicial remand. She also noted that the investigation is ongoing to determine the full extent of the fraud committed, with additional arrests anticipated shortly.
An FIR has been registered under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act. The charges include Section 419 (cheating by impersonation), Section 420 (cheating), Section 467 (forgery of valuable security), Section 468 (forgery for cheating), Section 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, along with Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act. This FIR has been lodged at the State Cyber Crime Cell Police Station, underscoring the severity and scale of the operation.
