Cyber fraud ring busted in Jhajjar

In a major crackdown on cybercrime, the Jhajjar Police have busted a fake call centre that was allegedly defrauding foreign nationals, mainly US citizens, on the pretext of providing technical support. A total of 18 persons from Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Haryana have been arrested.

Rajshree Singh, Commissioner of Police, said the Cyber Crime Police team raided a flat in a Bahadurgarh housing society after a tip-off and unearthed the racket.

“In the US, when someone needed technical support, they would search for customer care numbers on Google. The scammers had manipulated search results so that when someone dialled these numbers, the calls were redirected to them. Posing as legitimate representatives, they offered help for email login issues, pop-ups, or customer services for platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. Under the pretense of resolving these issues, they charged exorbitant fees in US dollars without providing any real service,” she said.

The CP added that the gang posed as service providers for antivirus software, malfunctioning devices and software solutions. “In reality, it was a well-orchestrated cyber scam. The individuals involved were being paid salaries ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per month,” she said.

Those arrested include Naifi Arslan, Fahad Khan, Raju Kanwal, Mayank alias Aric, Pulkit Sharma, Pankaj Chawla, Rahul Chawla, Ashutosh and Sunny (all from Delhi); Abhiney Raj, Mohammad Zoheb, Samar Khan and Raman (Uttar Pradesh); Gaurav Kumar (Uttarakhand); Daman Chandra and Rajeev Sonkar (Punjab); Chetan Singh (Rajasthan) and Dhruv Mongre (Haryana).

All 18 were produced in a local court on Thursday. Five key accused — Naifi Arslan, Fahad Khan, Raju Kanwal, Mayank and Pulkit Sharma — were remanded in five days of police custody for interrogation, while the remaining 13 were sent to judicial custody. “More crucial information about the racket is expected to emerge during the remand,” Rajshree said.