Cops bust fake call centre in Mohali, 12 arrested

Mohali, July 31

The police today busted a fake call centre based in the Industrial Area, Phase 8-B, and nabbed 12 persons involved in duping people abroad.

The gang had been operating for the past six months under the garb of a logistics company, raking in next to Rs 1 crore every month, some cops familiar with the matter said. Three mobile phones and 12 computers have been seized from their possession.

The arrested suspects include Jammu and Kashmir native Yuvraj Salaria, Vikram Singh of Balachor and local residents Rohit Chechi, Karthik Sharma, Baljinder Singh, Naman Suri, Dev Kumar, Mohit Kumar, Irfan Bhatt, Prashant Sharma and Darshandeep Singh.

A case has been registered at the Phase-1 police station under Sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Information Technology Act. The suspects have been remanded in police custody for three days.

The police revealed that the suspects used to pose as employees of American online payment gateway PayPal, and send e-mails to US-based customers, fibbing to them that their accounts had been blocked. When an unsuspecting customer would call on the toll-free number mentioned in the mail, the suspects would charge them $200-$500 on the pretext of fixing the issue.