Noida Call Centre 'Duping' Foreign Nationals Busted, 25 Arrested

According to a police spokesperson, 22 computer systems, 34 mobile phones, 4 laptops, and 5 internet routers were seized during the raid.

New Delhi: The Special Task Force (STF) and Noida Police have arrested twenty-five people from a call centre for allegedly duping foreigners, including US nationals, news agency PTI reported on Thursday. The joint operation was carried out at the call centre located in the D block of Sector 59 in Noida. 

According to a police spokesperson, 22 computer systems, 34 mobile phones, 4 laptops, and 5 internet routers were seized during the raid.

"During the police action, 25 people were arrested for duping foreigners online and thereby making money fraudulently. 34 mobile phones, 22 computer systems, four laptops, five internet routers etc. were seized from the spot," said a police spokesperson.

As per the report, the call centre workers contacted foreigners, and approached them to resolve their technical issues, as representatives of private companies.

"The thugs told the gullible foreigners that their computer systems or their IP (internet protocol) address have been compromised and assured to get the issues fixed," the police official said, adding that then they would have their targets download Any Desk app on their systems (to take remote control of the systems). "The accused took payment in the form of gift cards between USD 100 and USD 500 for leading online brands."

According to PTI, the twenty-five people detained by the police have been identified as Shiva Kashyap, Rohit Yadav, Jayant Lal, Himanshu Bhardwaj, Adil Rizvi, Bhupendra Singh Yadav, Anubhav Tyagi, Mohd Sabir, Manik Siwach, Saksham Malhotra, Gautam Sehgal, Ritik Malhotra, Ankur Soni, Firoz Alam, Kailash Shahi, Yash Makkad, Mohit Grover, Afroz Khan, Manish Tiwari, Nadeem, Yudhishthir Kumar, Chandrapal Singh, Sanjeet, Yash Makkad, and Neeraj Yadav. 

A few others linked to the scam are currently at large but have been identified, police said.

An FIR has been filed in the case under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467, 468, and 471 (all related to forgery) and under provisions of the Information Technology Act, reported PTI.