PUNJAB POLICE’S CYBERCRIME DIVISION BUSTS TWO FAKE CALL CENTRES DUPING PEOPLE LIVING IN US; 155 HELD

PUNJAB POLICE’S CYBERCRIME DIVISION BUSTS TWO FAKE CALL CENTRES DUPING PEOPLE LIVING IN US; 155 HELD 

79 COMPUTERS, 206 LAPTOPS AND MOBILE PHONES, SCRIPTS FOR TRAINING TO TALK TO THE CUSTOMERS RECOVERED

— CALLERS WERE USING DIFFERENT MODUS OPERANDI TO SCAM PEOPLE IN US, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV

— TWO KINGPINS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, WILL BE ARRESTED SOON: ADGP V NEERAJA

— INVESTIGATIONS ARE ON TO ASCERTAIN TOTAL FRAUD COMMITTED: ADGP CYBER CRIME

CHANDIGARH, May 17:

          The Cyber Crime Division of the Punjab Police has busted two fake Call Centres running in Mohali and arrested 155 employees of these centres for making fraudulent calls to people living in US and duping them, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.

          The first fake Call centre was located at Plot #F88 in Sector 74 in SAS Nagar, while, the other fake Call Centre established at A-one Tower at Sector 74 of SAS Nagar. Both the call centres seemed to be run by Gujarat based kingpins.

          DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the fake Call Centres were operating during the night and callers were using three different modus operandi to dupe foreign nationals by making them to purchase gift cards of Target, Apple, Amazon, etc .These gift cards are shared by a team manager and redeemed by the kingpin/owner, he added.

          ADGP Cyber Crime V Neeraja, while addressing a press conference, said that intelligence inputs about fake Call Centres operating in Mohali targeting foreigners living abroad was developed by Inspector Gaganpreet Singh and Inspector Daljit Singh along with their team with technical assistance from digital investigation training and analysis centre (DITAC) Lab of Cybercrime.

          She said that after zeroing in on the locations, Police teams under the supervision of SP Cybercrime Jashandeep Singh, led by DSP Prabhjot Kaur raided both the fake Call centres on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, and arrested all the 155 employees who were working as Diallers, Closers, Bankers and Floor Managers. However, both the kingpins are absconding and police teams are working to nab them, she added.

          She said that police teams have also recovered 79 desktop computer units, 204 laptops, mobile phones, and other accessories etc, besides scripts for training to talk to the customers.

          ADGP V Neeraja said that out of the total 155 arrested, 18 employees were taken on police remand, while, rest all the arrested persons were sent on Judicial remand. Further investigation to ascertain the total fraud committed is in progress, she said, while adding that more arrests are expected in the coming days.

          A case FIR no. 14/24 has been registered under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act at Police Station State Cyber Crime Cell.

 FAKE CALL CENTRES USING THREE MODUS OPERANDI

          Payday Fraud: The caller from the fake Call centre targets people in US on providing low-interest loans even if the credit score is low and charging money for it. The customers are exploited by the fraudsters by making them buy gift cards on the hope of a loan, which is immediately redeemed by the kingpin.

          Amazon Fraud: The caller from the fake Call Centre, pretending to be an Amazon representative, threaten the customer (US citizens) that the a parcel ordered by them has illegal items and that federal police will be informed. The amount is confirmed by another caller, who pretends to be the banker. To cancel the order a specific amount is obtained through a cash app or via Amazon gift card within a time period with a threat that information with be shared with the federal police. The gift cards numbers are then shared with the partners in US, who redeem the amount and send cash through Hawala to the Kingpins in India. Brokers provide customer information data to the Fake Call centres and the softwares data mine the target group to make fraudulent calls.

          Microsoft Scam: The targeted people get a pop up on the computer , as sent by customer care of Microsoft with a message that the system is compromised and a contact number is given to be called immediately. Thereafter , the person gets a link to download. The link installs an app which allows screen viewing. Thereafter , money from the bank accounts are fraudulently transferred to mule accounts in US and through Hawala received in India.