Policein Gurugram have busted an illegal call centre operating in Udyog Vihar of theNCR Township that had been duping American nationals posing as Customsofficials for a month.
Followinga tip-off, on Monday a team from the Udyog Vihar police station raided theoffice that was being run by two people -- one from Rajasthan and the otherfrom Gujarat.
Posingas Custom Department officials, the racketeers used to threaten US nationalsthat they have received illegal wine and drugs on their names. The fake callcentre workers would then take down the Social Security Numbers (SSN) of thevictims on the pretext of resolving the problem and even charged money throughe-gift cards as services provided to the clients, the police said on Tuesday.
Accordingto the police a SSN is a nine-digit number that the US government issues to allits citizens. The government uses this number to keep track of the resident'slifetime earnings and the number of years worked.
Thecall centre was located at Plot No 750 in Udyog Vihar Phase-5. During the raid,the police arrested one accused in connection with the matter and seized someelectronic gadgets from the spot.
Theone arrested was identified as Ranjit Singh Rana of Udaipur in Rajasthan.
Ranawas co-owner with Bhavesh Pankhi of Ahmedabad, who is absconding.
Duringthe raid, the police spotted men-women working at the fake call center andcommunicating with US nationals. However, after questioning the police releasedthe employees.
"Thefake call centre had cheated several US nationals on the pretext of resolvingSSN-related problems. The youths were employed at the call centres, which wasbeing operated without a license issued by the Department of Telecommunications(DOT)," Satbir Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Udyog Vihar policestation told.
"Duringthe questioning, the accused revealed that they used to communicate with UScitizens to resolve the SSN verification process they used to charge via onlinepayment mode," he added.
"Thematter is under investigation. How the accused was operating the fake callcentre is a part of ongoing investigation. The involvement of other peoplecannot be ruled out," the officer said.
Inconnection with the incident, an FIR under relevant sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) and the IT Act has been registered at Udyog Vihar policestation for further investigation.