Fake call centre busted, 6 held for Rs 85 lakh cyber fraud

The case came to light after Virender Kumar, a 42-year-old Dwarka resident, lodged a complaint in June, stating that he had received a call regarding the generation of a PIN for his newly issued credit card of a private bank. Soon after, he allegedly discovered an unauthorised transaction of Rs 2.81 lakh. A case was promptly registered, and investigators began tracing the money trail.

According to the police, the accused were running a call centre in Vikaspuri in West Delhi. “They called credit card holders of private banks regarding extension of credit limit and generation of PIN for a new credit card. They would then send an APK file to a target’s phone and get unauthorised access to it, including SMS. Thereafter, they used the entire credit card limit to transfer money to mule accounts, operated by them, and purchased high-value mobile phones from e-commerce websites. Thereafter, they used to sell these phones to retail shops, impersonating as company dealers, offering those at discounted prices,” said Ankit Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dwarka.

Technical surveillance revealed that calls to victims originated from Vikaspuri, while mule bank accounts and SIM cards were being managed from Panipat, Bhatinda, and Hyderabad, said police.

Raids were carried out simultaneously in Delhi and Telangana, leading to the arrest of the alleged kingpin Vijay Kumar Sharma, Moolchand Mishra, Gaurav, Hemant, Amit, and Pradeep Sahu. Vijay, police said, ran the fake call centre with the help of four female employees who would contact the potential targets before handing over calls to him.

The police said Vijay, 46, is a Commerce graduate, who also holds an LLB degree and had received software training. The other accused have relatively modest educational backgrounds, ranging from primary school to Class 12. From their possession, 41 mobile phones, a laptop, a router, and diaries containing details of customers of banks were seized.

Investigators said 95 complaints linked to the seized phones were found on the National Cybercrime Reporting portal, collectively reflecting a fraud of approximately Rs 85 lakh. The team cracked the case by analysing IP addresses, IMEI numbers, UPI transactions, telecom trails, and banking details, police also said.

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