PHAGWARA: In a dramatic late-night operation, the Phagwara police, assisted by the Kapurthala Cyber Crime Unit, dismantled a large-scale fake call centre that had been defrauding victims across India and abroad. The coordinated raid, carried out on late Thursday night which continued till Friday, led to the arrest of 38 individuals, including 32 men and six women, and the seizure of 40 laptops, 67 mobile phones, and ₹10 lakh in cash.
Senior Superintendent of the Police Gaurav Toora while addressing a press conference at Kapurthala on Saturday Evening that the breakthrough came after Inspector Amandeep Kaur of the Kapurthala Cyber Crime Police Station received a tip-off about suspicious activity at a banquet hall of Taj Vilas Hotel in Chahal Nagar, Phagwara. Further intelligence indicated another hub at Taj Villa on Palahi Road, opposite Kamla Nehru College. Acting on the information, Inspector Kaur alerted Deputy Superintendent of Police Bharat Bhushan, and a joint strategy was swiftly drawn up. Police teams in both government and private vehicles surrounded the premises to ensure an element of surprise before storming inside.
As officers entered, panic broke out among those present. Thirty-one people were found working at computer cubicles, engaged in fraudulent operations. While several attempted to flee, three key suspects — identified as Jaspreet Singh, Sajan Madan, and Varun alias Rohan — were apprehended on the spot. All 38 individuals were taken into custody.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gaurav Toora told reporters in Kapurthala that preliminary investigations revealed the syndicate to be part of a highly organized interstate network spanning Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, West Bengal, and Punjab. The racket specialized in impersonating bank and technology company officials, luring victims into downloading screen-sharing applications, and then remotely accessing their systems to extract sensitive banking details and passwords. Large sums of money were siphoned off from unsuspecting citizens in the process.
Further inquiries have established that the operation was masterminded by Amrinder Singh alias Sabhi Tohri, a local resident who had leased the premises. Singh is believed to be directly linked to Suraj, a Delhi-based associate, who in turn is connected to a Kolkata-based suspect identified as Shen. Within the network, Sajan reportedly managed day-to-day operations, Jaspreet was responsible for training new recruits, Varun handled system maintenance and connectivity, while Rohan functioned as operations manager. Police have also traced financial links to a Ludhiana-based associate who allegedly facilitated the transfer of proceeds through hawala channels.
SSP said that the syndicate’s fraudulent model primarily targeted individuals in the United States and Canada. Victims were first misled into believing that their computers were infected with malware and were then persuaded to call a toll-free helpline for technical support. They were instructed to install a malicious application named Anymore under the guise of testing antivirus protection through a credit card transaction. Using this access, the fraudsters siphoned off funds, converted them into Bitcoin, and eventually routed the money back to India.
SSP told that investigators also uncovered evidence that the group had hacked into mobile devices, stealing private photos and videos which were later used for blackmail and extortion. Recruitment for the racket was largely conducted online through a Delhi-based agency in Karol Bagh. Selected candidates were trained on-site in Phagwara before being deployed in fraudulent operations. Most of those arrested hail from the National Capital Region, with only one accused belonging to Punjab.
A forensic analysis of the seized laptops and mobile devices is currently underway, with police confirming the discovery of ongoing screen-sharing sessions, banking data, and incriminating communication logs. The accused have been booked under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000, along with Sections 111, 318(4), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. An FIR (No. 14 dated September 19, 2025) has been registered at the Kapurthala Cyber Crime Police Station.
SSP Toora described the operation as one of the most significant cybercrime crackdowns in Punjab in recent months, underlining the growing sophistication and international reach of such fraudulent networks. SSP Toora confirmed that coordinated raids are continuing across multiple states to trace other members of the syndicate, identify the full extent of the financial trail, and ensure that the victims of the racket receive justice.