Panchkula: Haryana Police has busted a gang having three fake call centers in Panchkula IT Park and arrested 85 people. The gang used to dupe citizens of America and Europe in the name of ‘Obama Welfare Scheme’. Police have seized a huge amount of laptops, mobiles and cash. DGP Shatrujeet Kapoor while talking to media persons talked about strict action against cyber crimes in the state. This is the biggest action taken against cyber criminals so far. He said the gang of cyber criminals who used to defraud citizens of America and Europe in an organised manner is now in police custody. He said, Haryana Police has exposed three fake call centers running in Panchkula’s IT Park and arrested 85 people including operators and employees of call centers.
Police have seized a large amount of digital equipment and cash in the raid including cash 85 laptops, 62 mobile phones and Rs 8.40 lakh were recovered from Certis IT Services, 62 laptops, 60 mobiles and Rs 73,176 cash from iSpace Technologies Pvt Ltd, while 18 mobiles, 21 CPUs, one laptop and Rs 3.20 lakh cash were recovered from the third call centre and have registered three separate FIRs, and interrogation of the main accused is underway, who admitted that they used to cheat people through fake schemes like ‘Obama Welfare Initiative’. Police investigations revealed that English speaking employees working in call centres used to talk to foreign nationals by posing as various service providers and help desk staff. They used to lure them with free facilities and schemes which included fake schemes which were linked to India’s BPL scheme to win their trust.
Once trust was built, personal and banking data was taken from the victims, which was further sold to organized criminals. Apart from this, the workers of the Call Center forced the victims to buy coupons online. These coupons were converted into bitcoins and the money for the fraud was recovered through the ‘hawala’ network. Police believe that this action has exposed a big gang of cyber criminals, whose roots may be spread outside India. DGP Shatrujeet Kapoor said that in the coming times, special campaigns will be run to dismantle such networks. People have been urged to be cautious about cyber security. Do not share your personal information on any suspicious call, email or message. If there is a suspicion of cyber crime, immediately call the helpline number 1930 or register a complaint on www.cybercrime.gov.in.
