The Noida Police arrested 84 people, including 36 women workers, after a raid at a call centre that was allegedly involved in duping US citizens of crores of rupees, reports PTI. The call centre is located in Sector 6.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Harish Chander said that the raid was conducted at the call centre, having a capacity of 150 desktops, around 5 pm on Wednesday over inputs of such illegal operations being carried out from a facility during night.
“It’s a large-size call centre. We have arrested 84 people, including women, from there. The centre functioned during night,” Chander, flanked by Additional DCP Shakti Mohan Avasthy and ACP Sushil Kumar said, as quoted by PTI.
“The call centre was used two to three times a week and in one night alone, the gang would make Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. They had been operating for around four months now from the facility in Noida,” the DCP said.
He said that two people, who are the masterminds, are absconding.
Speaking about the modus operandi, Chander said that they interacted with US citizens after contacting them using voice messages in which the callers would scare the gullible Americans by saying their ‘social security number’ — a unique identity given by the government – has been “compromised”.
They would then tell the US citizens that for assistance in fixing the problem, they should press 1 on their phones after which the call would land at their call centre (in Noida). Using a software, these people talked to them and shared their personal details, further convincing them that they are government officials, he said.
Once trapped, the gang would tell the gullible people that they can use the help of “US Marshals” to get rid of the problem. If people agreed, they were put in touch with “US Marshalls”, who again would be the gang members disguising themselves as American government officials, the DCP added.
“Eventually the US citizens were asked to make payments in online transfers, through coupon cards of Apple, or as in some cases, even through cryptocurrency like Bitcoin,” the officer said.
The police said they have seized Rs 20 lakh cash from the call centre which was to be disbursed among the workers in the form of their monthly salary. Along with this, police also seized 150 computer sets.
An FIR in connection with the case has been lodged at Phase 1 police station.