New Delhi, April 8 Police have busted a fake call centre operating in Pitampura in outer Delhi and arrested 19 people, including 12 women, for allegedly cheating victims across the country by posing as representatives of a finance company, officials said on Wednesday.
The accused lured unsuspecting people by offering loans and insurance-related services and collected processing fees through digital payment before cutting off contact, the police said.
"The operation was carried out on April 7, following credible inputs about a fraudulent call centre functioning in the area, following which a joint raid was conducted," a senior police officer said.
During the raid, 19 people were found actively engaged in making calls and were apprehended on the spot, the officer said.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that the accused targeted people from different states by offering fake loans and insurance schemes.
"They would initially gain the victims' trust through scripted conversations and then demand processing fees ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000, which were collected through QR codes sent online," the officer said.
Once the payment was received, the accused would stop responding to calls, block the victims, or change their SIM cards to avoid detection, the officer added.
One of the women, identified as a "team leader", disclosed that the operation was run under the supervision of a "manager" based in Pitampura, who provided them with data of potential targets along with contact details. Efforts are underway to trace and arrest the alleged mastermind, the police said.
Further investigation revealed another room functioning as a separate call centre, where another group operated under a similar modus operandi.
The police have registered a case and seized 36 mobile phones, including keypads and smartphones, along with registers containing details of transactions and targets. All the accused have been taken into custody, and further investigation is underway.