Lid off fake call centre in Panchkula, 2 held

Panchkula, September 10

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Two persons have been arrested by the local police for allegedly duping foreign nationals on the pretext of providing them technical support through a fake call centre in Sector 5 here.

The suspects, Deepak Gyan Singh Rana (31), a resident of Rajdeep Society in Ahmedabad and currently residing in Sector 6, MDC, and Abhay Pratap Singh (21), a resident of Jalpari Society, Vastral, in Ahmedabad, were arrested by a team of the Sector 26 crime branch on September 8 from the first floor of SCO 8 in Sector 5.

The raid was conducted on a tip-off by the police about the fake call centre, a police official said.

“Acting on the information, a raid was conducted and we found at least seven telecallers making calls and speaking in English through headphones connected to their laptops. On enquiry, Rana identified himself as the owner of the centre. We asked them for documents related to permission to run the centre, the source of customers and the mode of payment, but they could not produce any valid documents,” a police official said.

According to the police, the suspects extorted money from innocent foreigners under the false pretext of resolving their technical issues, which actually did not exist.

The victims were made to pay the amount through gift cards, the police said.

The police also recovered 12 laptops, six headphones, four laptop chargers and two mobile phones from their possession.

A case was registered under Section 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant sections of the IT Act.

Both suspects were produced in a local court today, which remanded them in four-day police custody. — TNS