Palwal police bust fake call centre in Delhi, 11 arrested

The Palwal police have dismantled a fake call centre that was being operated illegally in Delhi and arrested 11 cyber criminals, including three women. The fraudsters had been duping individuals by posing as bank customer service officers under the pretext of increasing their credit card limits.

More than 100 complaints were lodged in various states across the country against the accused, involving fraudulent transactions totalling over Rs 40 lakh. The police have seized 20 mobile phones and bank account details from their possession.

According to the police, an online complaint was received from Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Baghola village in Palwal, regarding a fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33,000 from his HDFC Bank credit card after he received a call from someone posing as customer care, offering to increase his card limit. Following the complaint, an FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Palwal, on July 1. During the investigation, the cyber police team arrested the accused by raiding the fake call centre in Delhi on Wednesday.

Shubham Singh, ASP, Palwal, said that the arrested individuals used to call customers impersonating bank officials, obtain OTPs under the guise of increasing credit card limits and then withdraw money from the cards into different wallets, eventually having it withdrawn from CSCs through their co-accused.

According to the police, the arrested individuals have been identified as Pradeep, Mohit, Virender, Rohit, Sakshi, Sushbu, Avishka, Sahil, Sahib, Ayush, and Nitin – all residents of Delhi.

“In the investigation so far, more than 100 complaints have been found against these accused in different states across the country, in which fraud of more than Rs 40 lakh has been found. The accused are being thoroughly questioned about other co-accused involved in this crime network after being taken on police remand,” said ASP Shubham Singh of Palwal.