Gurugram: Fake call centre duping foreigners by posing as Social Security Administration busted

Police officials said they busted the call centre on the basis of a tip-off claiming that such an establishment was running without permission in Sector 40.

“A team was immediately sent to the spot to conduct a raid, and it was found that the office had been taken on rent 6 to 7 months ago for use as a call centre, where eight men and six women were employed,” said Inspector Vipin, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Cyber Crime police station.

“During questioning, the employees, as well as the accused who were later arrested, revealed that the owner of the call centre would buy data of residents of the USA from two different websites and upload them on his server,” he said.

Officials said that, on a daily basis, bulk voice mails would be sent to 3,000 to 4,000 people claiming that the call was from the department of ‘Social Security Administration’ and was being made to inform the recipient “there is the legal Enforcements action filed on your Social Security number for fraudulent activities”. The message would then ask the recipients to press one, and get connected “to the concerned departments”, and would add that, “if we don’t hear from you, your social will be blocked permanently”.

“In order to avoid legal action, the recipients would press one and the call would be connected to the call centre, where employees would threaten to block their social security numbers and would ask for payments ranging from a hundred to eight hundred dollars,” said the SHO.

Police said an FIR has been registered regarding the matter under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.

“Investigations are underway to nab the three men who actually owned the call centre, identified as Rohit, and Bhavesh, who hail from Gujarat, and Harshdeep, who hails from Odisha,” said Inspector Vipin.