New Delhi:
Five people, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly running a fake call centre and duping people by posing as executives of online shopping portals, police said on Monday. The kingpin of the racket N Marimuttu (37) along with Mani Kartik (32), residents of Keshav Puram, K Rahul (18) and C Shiva (28), both residents of Shakurpur, and Prachi Arora (20), a resident of Burari, have been arrested, they said.
A complaint was lodged with the police where a man alleged that unknown callers, posing as executives of online shopping websites, called and informed him that based on his previous shopping, he had been selected as a lucky customer and had won a car.
However, when he agreed to take cash instead of the car, they asked him to pay a processing fee following which he deposited Rs 6,000 in the account given by the caller. He, however, got suspicious and lodged a complaint, a senior police officer said. ”During enquiry, the account number given to the complainant was found to have been opened in the name of a man named Arora.
This man’s call detail records were analyzed and a fake call centre, which was being operated at Keshav Puram, was unearthed. A raid was then conducted and five people were arrested,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said. Police recovered eight mobile phones, eight ATM cards and 10 SIM cards from the possession of the accused. During investigation, it was found that the account was opened on October 21, 2020 and the total transaction within a period of one month was Rs 27 lakh, they said.
The accused called data providers and asked them to provide data of customers who had recently purchased items from online shopping portals. The accused told the police that the data was easily available for Rs 2 to Rs 10 per mobile number, police said. Thereafter, the accused used to call the victims posing as executives of online shopping portals, the DCP said.
They induced victims with lucrative schemes. The accused used to tell the victims that on the basis of their previous shopping, they had been selected as lucky customers who had won attractive items. When the victim agreed, the accused asked them to deposit a processing fee, police added.
