Fake call centre in Delhi swindled people of Rs 1 crore, say police, arrest 10

The Delhi Police has busted a fake call centre and arrested 10 people for allegedly duping people across the country on the pretext of settling lapsed insurance policies, an officer said on Monday.

The accused allegedly used forged logos and documents of the Reserve Bank of India, the Delhi High Court, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), NPCI, and the Insurance Ombudsman to gain the trust of their targets.

More than Rs 20 lakh has been frozen in suspect bank accounts, while the total amount cheated is estimated to be around Rs 1 crore, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said in a statement.

The arrests were made following an analysis of complaints uploaded on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), which revealed suspicious cash withdrawals linked to a bank account in Dwarka, he said.

A man, identified as Nishant Chauhan, was apprehended when he arrived at a bank to withdraw Rs 2 lakh.

During questioning, he revealed that he and others had provided their bank accounts to the syndicate for routing cheated money in return for commissions ranging from 1.5 to 10 per cent, the officer said.

Investigation led to the arrest of the alleged kingpin of the gang, Sahil Berry, from Dwarka.

Police said Berry made calls posing as an insurance official and convinced the targets to deposit money for policy maturity, NOCs, and premature settlements.

A raid at a call centre in Sagarpur led to the arrest of Kishan Kumar, Daman Bakshi, Sumit Goswami and Neeraj, who allegedly worked as tele-callers using stolen insurance data, he said.

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Subsequent raids led to the arrest of Vinay Malhotra and Ajay Bajpai, who allegedly coordinated the collection and distribution of the cheated money.

During their searches, police seized 18 mobile phones, four hard drives, two laptops, a pen drive containing forged stamps and documents of various authorities, and an SUV car.

Several complaints have been traced to the accused, including one from an Uttarakhand resident, who alleged he was cheated of nearly Rs 70 lakh, police said.