Fake call centre busted, 18 including manager arrested

The police have busted another fake call centre operation that was defrauding people in the USA by offering bogus technical support. The scammers created a fake website for a well-known accounting company and targeted unsuspecting victims. A total of 18 individuals, including the call centre manager and eight women workers, were arrested and 17 CPUs were seized during the raid.

The operation was carried out by a team of cyber police led by Inspector Naveen Kumar, following a tip about the fake call centre operating from Plot No. 270 in Phase 2 of Udyog Vihar. Upon arrival, the police found the suspects, both men and women, at their computers, actively making calls.

During the investigation, it was discovered the centre did not have the necessary licenses or agreements required by the Department of Telecommunications. They were running the fraudulent operation under the guise of customer service for a reputed accounting company.

The arrested individuals were identified as Gaurav Bakshi (the call centre manager), Devashish Chatterjee, Anmol, Kanishk Narula, Ajish Mathyu, Kunal, Devender Devgan, Hitesh Malik, Rohit Singh, Aryman Thakur, Nidhi, Sita, Muskan, Bhawna, Shivani, Lahingnehat Haykip, Sharon and Nagmanthigcho. An FIR has been registered against them under relevant sections of the BNS and IT Act at the Cyber Crime Police Station, South.

In police interrogation, it was revealed Gaurav Bakshi managed the call centre and operated it with the help of his co-accused since February 2024. The call centre deceived foreign citizens by posing as customer service representatives for a well-known software and accounting company. They ran ads on Google directing people to call a toll-free number, which was actually routed to their centre via VCL Dialer and 3CX Dialer. Once victims called, the scammers remotely accessed their computers by convincing them to download screen-sharing applications.

Once they had access, the fraudsters would claim to solve technical problems and charge victims between USD 200 to 1,000 via a payment gateway. They even created phishing websites that mimicked the legitimate accounting company, QuickBooks, to further deceive their targets.

Priyanshu Dewan, ACP Cyber, said the investigation is ongoing and the accused are being questioned further.