The Delhi Police has arrested five persons, including a woman for allegedly running a fake call center and duping people in northwest Delhi’s Keshav Puram area.
The accused have been identified as Mani Kartik (32), a resident of Keshav Puram and the kingpin of the racket, N Marimuttu (37), K Rahul (18), C Shiva (28), residents of Shakurpur, and Prachi Arora (20), a resident of Burari.
According to Vijayanta Arya, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Northwest district, a complaint was received where the complainant alleged that he got calls from the unknown numbers where persons impersonated themselves as executives of online shopping websites.
“The callers informed the complainant that he has been selected as lucky customer and won a car on the basis of his previous shopping. They offered him option to receive the car or cash. When he agreed to receive cash instead of car, they asked him for processing fee. The complainant deposited Rs 6,000 in the alleged account, but later he found it was suspicious and lodged the complaint,” said the DCP.
“During enquiry, the alleged bank account was found opened in the name of Arora. The call detail records of the alleged numbers were analyzed and a fake call center which was being operated at Keshav Puram came to notice. Thereafter, a raid was conducted and five persons were arrested,” said the DCP.
“Police recovered eight mobile phones, eight ATM cards and 10 SIM cards from their possession. During investigation, it was also learnt that the alleged account was opened on October 21, 2020 and total transaction amount within a period of one month was found Rs 27 lakh,” said the DCP.
Explaining their modus operandi the DCP said that the accused persons called any data provider and asked them for providing data of the customers who recently purchased from online shopping portals.
“Data is easily available from data providers for Rs 2 to 10 per mobile number. Thereafter, the accused used to call the victims impersonating themselves as executives of online shopping portals, the DCP said.
“They induced victims with their lucrative schemes. The accused used to tell the victims that on the basis of their last shopping, they have been selected as lucky customers who won iron, LED TV, laptop, car etc. When the victim got influenced with their offers, the accused persons asked them to deposit processing fee,” said the DCP.
