Four arrested for running fake call centre, duping businessman of Rs 11 lakh
The alleged centre was used to dupe small businessmen by luring them to list their products on the portal that has access to customers in national and international markets, said DCP (Northeast) Joy Tirkey.
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As per the complainant, on March 20, he got a call from one Aryan to register his shop on the portal for Rs 5,900. (File Photo)Vasu Singh, who runs Silvereen Art and Craft shop in Northeast Delhi’s West Karawal Nagar, was looking to sell to overseas customers when he allegedly got a call from a representative of bhartiyaexporters.com, a portal claiming to market products to national and international buyers. Little did Singh know it was only the beginning of an elaborate call centre scam that would cost him Rs 11 lakh and lead to the arrest of four people from Ashok Nagar on Sunday.
The alleged centre was used to dupe small businessmen by luring them to list their products on the portal that has access to customers in national and international markets, said DCP (Northeast) Joy Tirkey.
As per the complainant, on March 20, he got a call from one Aryan to register his shop on the portal for Rs 5,900. Ten days later, Singh was informed a company had placed a huge order worth Rs 3.5 crore that he needed to deliver urgently. Singh accepted.
This was followed by a call from a man named Jose William from the company who said an advance payment was in the pipeline. But William demanded a “credibility certificate” from Singh who, in turn, contacted the portal. They offered to make it for Rs 70,000, the FIR, lodged on September 4, stated.
On April 6, Singh sent the said certificate to William who then asked him to share a secure payment gateway. As he did not have one, Singh contacted Aryan who, on behalf of the website, offered to make one for him for Rs 63,720. William’s next demand was a General Product Safety Directive certificate to release the advance.
Singh again turned to the portal. This time, a man named Vipul offered to get the certificate made for Rs 2.31 lakh. Singh sent the amount in three installments and sent the certificate to William by April 23 who then demanded an Exports House Certificate. Singh got a call from Manish of Bhartiya Exporters. He claimed the certificate could be made for Rs 4 lakh.
Singh never got the certificate though he transferred the amount on May 6. However, a month later, he got a text from William saying if he did not have the Exports House Certificate, he could give his shop’s US patent to the company he worked at. Singh got a US patent made on the directions of Bhartiya Exporters for Rs 3.24 lakh and sent it to William, the FIR states.
Two months later, William assured Singh the firm’s MD would transfer the payment in a week. However, William informed Singh later that the MD was arrested in Germany and his accounts frozen. Thereafter, William’s number was unreachable. Meanwhile, Singh contacted Bhartiya Exporters who refused to intervene.
The businessman filed a complaint at Jyoti Nagar Northeast Cyber police station. Police said their probe led them to the fake call centre. The men, Kuldeep Joshi (29), his brother Deepak Joshi (25), Adarsh (24) and Jamshed Ansari (24), were arrested for cheating.
“All certificates provided by William, alias Deepak, to Vasu were fake,” said the DCP.
They were booked under sections 318 (fraudulently acquiring property of another person), 319 (cheating by impersonation) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS.
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