The Delhi police have busted a fake international call centre, being operated from west Delhi’s Kirti Nagar, allegedly involved in duping foreign nationals by posing as Canadian police officials, the police said on Sunday.
“We have arrested 32 people, including telecallers, in connection with the scam and have seized 55 computers, 35 phones, and illegal software along with other equipment from the call centre,” said a police officer.
The police said that on November 15, they received inputs about fraudsters posing as Canadian police officials over the phone and duping foreign nationals on the pretext of saving them from Social Insurance Number (SIN) violations.
“SIN is a nine-digit number that is required to work in Canada and to have access to government programmes and benefits,” said the officer.
A complaint was received from Canadian national Elvis Henry, who was allegedly duped of $13,500, the police added.
Additional DCP (West) Sameer Sharma said that the police, along with a team from the Department of Telecommunications, raided the call centre in Moti Nagar. Jasjot Singh, Sarabjot Singh and Sagar Jain were found supervising the activities of the telecallers.
VOIP calls
Upon interrogation, the supervisors disclosed that they impersonated Canadian police officials and targeted Canadian nationals through Voice Over Internet Protocal (VOIP) calls, said Mr. Sharma.
Explaining the modus operandi, the officer said: “The call centre was operational during night hours. The accused began with a robocall claiming to be from Service Canada and informed the recipient that there are several allegations linked with the victim’s SIN. The victims were threatened with arrests if they failed to call back.”
“Those who called back were subjected to further threats, but then offered a one-time chance to pay and settle the matter,” said the officer. The victims were asked to transfer money either through Bitcoin or gift cards.
The accused used call-spoofing technology to mislead victims and one of the phones found at the spot had ‘Bitcoin Blockchain Wallet App’, which was used to receive money from victims in the form of Bitcoins, he added.
Raids are being conducted to nab others, including call centre owners — Raja, Sushil, Naveen, Bunny Arora and Pankaj, the police said, adding DoT officials are also probing the case.
