A call centre operating illegally in Mumbra and providing services to two U.S.-based pharma companies, was busted and its owner was arrested, the police said on Friday.
The accused, identified as Abdul Vashid Kadir Chowdhary (23), was arrested following a raid on the call centre located at Amrut Nagar locality in Mumbra on Thursday morning. Senior Inspector Kishore Pasalkar said the police had received a tip-off that the call centre was being run without permission.
Thane Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar directed the Mumbra police to act and the raid was carried out around 6 a.m. on Thursday. During the raid, Mr. Chowdhary was found directing and guiding three persons, who were making calls to U.S. citizens.
Mr. Pasalkar said, “It was found that the calls were being made through Voice over Internet Protocol, a technology that allows a person to make voice calls using an Internet connection instead of a regular phone line.”
The three callers told the police that they had been appointed on a monthly salary of ₹12,000 and they had received training. The officer said, “The call centre executives used to call the U.S. citizens and ask them if they had pain in their back, knees or other parts of the body. They made calls on behalf of the two U.S.-based medical companies.”
Once the persons receiving the call told about their pain and ailment, the callers used to seek their personal details, like age, location and inform them that they would get a free belt from the company. The callers used to pass on the information to the two companies, which would then provide the belts to the beneficiaries and get the payment through medical insurance.
