Ludhiana: An illegal call centre racket was busted by the police in Ludhiana on Friday. In all, 30 persons were arrested for allegedly duping several people, including foreigners. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav tweeted, "In a major breakthrough, @Ludhiana_Police busted an International Call Center operating illegally and arrested an entire gang of 30 persons who posed as technical service providers for MNCs and duped citizens, mainly foreigners, for a huge amount of money."
Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh said two women were among those arrested. "Fourteen electronic tabs, 34 mobile phones, 2 laptops and Rs 1,17,000 cash were also recovered from their possession," he said. The police said the fraudsters used to call people from around the world and introduce themselves as customer support executives from top companies. Then they used to send an e mail to the customers with a phone number mentioned in that.
"When the unsuspecting customer would call on that number the fraudsters would tell them that their mobile phone has been hacked and all their banking information is at risk and would ask them to share their bank information," Singh said. "The call would then be transferred to a fake senior manager who would try to explain to the customer how their bank accounts can be secured. The fraudsters would then send a form to them to disclose their banking information with them," he said.
During the investigation it came to the fore that all the arrested persons are aged between 25 and 35 years and their educational qualifications were up to Class 12, the police said. All the arrested are from different states and come from poor families. The parents of most of them are labourers and the lure of easy money attracted them into this, the police said. The DGP said the arrested gang members are from Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Delhi and Punjab.
Also read: Police bust fake international call centre racket in Jaipur, 32 held
