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G'gram: Fake call centre duping US nationals busted, 7 held

IANS | April 14, 2021 04:46 PM

GURUGRAM: The Haryana Chief Minister's flying squad on Wednesday busted an illegal call centre operating at Ansal Corporate Plaza, near Sector-3 Palam Vihar, in Gurugram. The police have arrested seven persons in connection with the matter.

This call centre was cheating American nationals on the pretext of providing Social Security Number (SSN) and charge in dollars for service via e-check, popal and gift cards, said the Gurugram police.

The accused had also paid Rs 2.6 lakh as building rent for four months.

According to the police, an SSN is a nine-digit number that the U.S government issues to all its citizens to keep track of the resident's lifetime earnings and the number of years worked.

The police have also seized Rs 1.9 lakh, one laptop and a hard-disk and other electronic gadgets from the spot.

The owner of the alleged fake call centre has been identified as 32-year-old Akshay Dalal, who is a B.Com graduate from Madhya Pradesh, currently residing in Gurugram's Sohna Road area. The remaining six accused hail from Manipur.

The fake call centre operated under the name 'Medicine Global Infotech Pvt. Ltd'.

According to the police, a team from the Haryana Chief Minister's flying squad led by Gurugram Assistant Commissioner Of Police (ACP), Inderjeet Singh, raided the call centre following a tip-off .

During the raid, the police spotted six boys and three girls who were communicating with the American nationals in English.

"The youths were employed at the call centre which was being operated without permission. The call centre did not have any licence issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), " the Gurugram ACP said.

"The main accused used to work in a Gurugram-based call centre in 2019 from where he got the idea to cheat American citizens, " he added.

"The matter is under investigation. How the accused was operating the fake call centre is part of the investigation. The involvement of other people cannot be ruled out, " he said.

An FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including the IT Act, has been registered at the Cyber Crime police station for further investigation.

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