In a swift overnight operation conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Cyber Crime Division of the Punjab Police dismantled two fraudulent call centres operating in Mohali. A total of 155 individuals employed at these centres were apprehended, accused of perpetrating scams targeting residents of the United States (US) through deceptive phone calls, authorities revealed.
Located in Mohali Sector 74, both call centres were masterminded by individuals based in Gujarat who are currently evading arrest. Law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing leads to apprehend them, stated police officials.
Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav disclosed, “Preliminary investigations indicate that these call centres operated during night hours, with callers deceiving foreign nationals into purchasing gift cards from retailers such as Target, Apple, and Amazon.” Yadav added that the collected gift cards were shared with the orchestrators by a team manager, who then redeemed them for monetary gain.
V Neeraja, ADGP Cyber Crime, detailed the police’s operation, attributing the success to intelligence inputs developed by Inspector Gaganpreet Singh and Inspector Daljit Singh, supported by technical expertise from the Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (DITAC) lab of Cybercrime.
Neeraja further explained the fraudulent tactics employed by the scammers, including payday fraud, Amazon-related scams, and Microsoft impersonation schemes. These schemes targeted vulnerable individuals in the US, coercing them to purchase gift cards or transfer money under false pretences.
Materials seized during the raids included 79 desktop computers, 204 laptops, mobile phones, and other accessories, along with training scripts used by the fraudsters. Out of the 155 arrested, 18 individuals have been remanded to police custody, while the remainder await judicial proceedings.
An FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act at the State Cyber Crime Cell Police Station, as authorities continue their investigation into the extent of the fraudulent activities and anticipate further arrests in the near future.
