NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted a fake technical-support call centre operating from Naraina Industrial Area and arrested seven people, including the owner of the facility. US citizens were allegedly targeted through fake calls and gift-card fraud.
A tip-off was received on September 25 about a suspected international tech-support fraud call centre operating under the name “Veptra” in Naraina Industrial Area, Phase-II.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Hareshwar Swami said the owner of the call centre Arun, his partner Salim, and five callers were apprehended. The callers were found operating laptops with headphones and communicating with people in the US using fake American names.
They allegedly contacted US residents through toll-free numbers and posed as technical-support executives.
The callers allegedly told victims that their devices or systems had detected viruses, malware or pornographic content and that immediate technical assistance was required.
The victims were then allegedly induced to purchase gift cards on the pretext of resolving the purported technical issues. The callers allegedly obtained the gift-card details or codes and passed them to people associated with the operation, said the DCP.
The source of the toll-free numbers, the persons providing the calls and numbers, the gift-card transactions and the associated money trail are being investigated.
In another similar case, five people were apprehended for allegedly operating an illegal call centre targeting foreign nationals by impersonating technical-support executives of tech giants. One of the five has been served notice.
The accused were apprehended following a raid on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Kushal Pal Singh said they allegedly contacted foreign nationals through VoIP applications while posing as technical-support executives of tech giants. After gaining the victims’ confidence, they allegedly induced them to install remote-access software and then deceived them into making payments or divulging sensitive financial information.