Delhi Police Nabs Gang Posing As Executive Of Online Shopping Website, Woman Among 5 Arrested

According to the police, the investigation into the matter started following a complaint, in which the complainant said that he got a call where the called told him that on the basis of his previous online shopping, he won the lucky draw and was to be awarded a car. Not only this, but the caller also told the complainant that either he can take the car or you can also take cash in lieu of the car.

(File Photo: PTI)

Delhi: The North West Police of Delhi on Monday arrested five members of a gang, who allegedly defrauded people by posing as executives of online shopping websites such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Shopclues. According to the police, the investigation into the matter started following a complaint, in which the complainant said that he got a call where the caller told him that on the basis of his previous online shopping, he won the lucky draw and was to be awarded a car. Not only this, but the caller also told the complainant that either he can take the car or you can also take cash in lieu of the car. After agreeing on the cash, the complainant was asked to deposit Rs 6,000 as processing fees. After the complainant deposited the amount, the call never came and he later found out of being duped. Following the complaint, the police started to investigate the matter and first obtained information about the account in which the money was deposited. Apart from this, the police also took details of several phone numbers. The investigation further revealed that the account in which the money was deposited belonged to a woman named Prachi Arora. Following the leads from the bank account, the police found out about a fake call center that was being operated in the Keshav Puram area of the city, and also found out that all the money defrauded from the people was deposited into the same bank account. The police raided the fake call center and arrested five people including Prachi Arora. The investigation further revealed that the gang made d Rs 27 lakh in a month through the means of fraud. Following the arrest, the accused told the police that they used to take data from the data provider through Just Dial, about those who used to shop through the online website and or had done shopping recently. After which, the gang members used to call them and lured them by offering gifts such as a car, TV, freeze, laptop, etc. Following this, the gang proposed the option of taking cash in the lieu of the items to the victims. When the victim agreed on cash, then he was asked to deposit some money in form of processing fees. After which, the gang stopped picking up the victim’s phone call. The investigation also revealed that the gang used a phone number and a bank account for only 15 days, after which they were closed. Phone numbers and bank accounts were operated using bogus names. The police have recovered 10 SIM cards, 8 ATMs, and the data from them through which they used to make calls.