Fake call centre busted in Gurugram

Police have busted an illegal call centre and arrested two persons in Gurugram. Seven hard disks along with other electronic gadgets have also been seized from the possession. The arrested persons have been identified as Anurag Tiwari and Kirti Kumar Keshav, residents of Jind district in Haryana.

Gurugram:The chief minister's flying squad late on Tuesday night busted an illegal call centre operating in Sector-28 in Gurugram.

The call centre mostly used to cheat US nationals on the pretext of resolving Social Security Number (SSN) verification and used to charge 100 to 500 dollars as service charge per client, the police said on Wednesday.

The accused had also paid Rs 2.50 lakh as house rent for two months.

According to the police a SSN is a nine-digit number that the US government issues to all American citizens. The government uses this number to keep track of the residents lifetime earnings and the number of years worked.

While duping their clients, they used to introduce themselves as SSN department employees. According to the police, a team from the CM flying squad led by ACP Inderjeet raided the call centre which was located at plot number 558, Sector-28 in Gurugram following a tip-off. During the raid, the police arrested two persons and seized 7 hard disks along with other electronic gadgets.

The arrested persons have been identified as Anurag Tiwari and Kirti Kumar Keshav, residents of Jind district in Haryana. However, the owner of the fake call centre Lokender fled the spot. He is reportedly a resident of Ahmedabad.

The arrested duo were co-partners in the fake call centre.

During the raid, the police spotted 4 women and 22 men including the arrested suspects, who were working at the fake call centre and were communicating with US nationals. However, after questioning the police released the youths who were working there.

"A complaint was received that this fake call centre had cheated several US nationals on the pretext of resolving SSN related problems in Sector-28 area. The youths were employed at the call centre, which was being operated without a license issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT)," said ACP Inderjeet.

"During questioning, the accused revealed that they used to communicate with US citizens to resolve SSN verification process. They used to charge nearly 100 to 500 dollars per client as service charge via bank account," he added.

"The matter is under investigation. How the accused were operating the fake call centre is being probed. The involvement of other people cannot be ruled out," the officer said.

An FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act has been registered at the Cyber crime police station.

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