Three illegal call centres involved in cheating people busted in Mumbai; 36 arrested

Mumbai: Police have busted three illegal call centres in Mumbai by arresting 36 people, including women, who were involved in cheating people by promising loans and also selling prohibited medicines posing as foreign nationals, an official said on Friday.

The crime branch had received a specific information about a crime syndicate which was operating bogus call centres in Oshiwara and Aarey Colony in the western suburbs and duping people by promising them loans and also selling medicines that are banned in India, he said.

Acting on the information, crime branch units 10 and 12 formed multiple teams and conducted raids at Get Pharmacy and All Win Info Media situated at Behram Baugh in Jogeshwari (West), said the official.

During the raids, crime branch sleuths found that two bogus call centres were operating from the premises where callers used to contact foreign nationals using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) method, he said.

Callers used to pose as foreign nationals and introduce themselves as representatives of a pharma company. They would then sell prohibited medicines online, according to the official.

After taking orders from foreign nationals, the callers would ask them to made payment in dollars in certain bank accounts provided by them, he said.

A third bogus call centre, which was part of the racket, was busted in the Royal Palms area of Aarey Colony, according to the official.

This call centre was involved in disbursing loans through a bogus company named Dhan Suvidha Finance. Callers used to facilitate personal and business loans and take money from unsuspecting customers in the name of processing fees, he said.

In all, 36 persons were arrested by the crime branch from the three bogus call centres. They included owners and 32 employees, eight of them women, said the official.

However, he did not disclose the amount involved in the fraud.

Thirty-three mobile phones, computers, laptops, hard disks, monitors, CPUs and routers were also seized from the premises, he said.

Three cases have been registered and further probe was underway, the official added.