Fake call centre: Personal info of 6 lakh people found

Confidential information of customers who booked flats in Noida, postpaid mobile customers, credit card holders and insurance policy subscribers were in possession of the gang that was running a fake call centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, police said.

Such was the gang’s methodical approach that it had a detailed list of people who own luxury cars in the National Capital Region which covers the territorial jurisdictions of National Capital Territory of Delhi, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan.

“The gang maintained a precise database of crores of people across India. We found personal information of 6 lakh people in just one Excel sheet from the laptops that we seized,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Vikas Pathak told HT.

Police, meanwhile, arrested the sixth accused - Sunil Kumar - on Saturday. Kumar, a Jaipurbased travel agent, sold database to the gang, police said. The gang came under the radar of the crime branch after a resident from Ashok Nagar was duped of more than ₹40 lakh. Five directors of the fake call centre — Indo Saphire Journeys Limited — were arrested on Friday.

The gang was duping the people since 2014 by promising people that their money will be doubled in the share market within a very short time. The gang members used telecallers based at the fake call centre in Noida to gain the trust of potential targets by continuously calling them.

“Some of the lists that the gang maintained include personal information of- people who had booked flats, insurance policy holders, credit card holders, customer of mobile companies along with email ids,” the senior police officer said.

The gang had duped nearly 5,000 people of crores of rupees in 23 states in the last one year, according to the police.

Interrogation revealed hat several such fake call centres were being run by various rackets. “We are in the process of detaining more people who may be involved in this scam. I is also being investigated that how the gang managed to get hold of such a huge database of personal information of people living in various cities,” the DCP said.

Mohammed Ikram, the mastermind, has a Masters degree in history from Jamia Millia Islamia, police said. adding that he worked in insurance and telecom companies. “He operates a few genuine businesses alongside the fake call centre. Personal information of 20 lakh people with postpaid mobile connections has also been recovered,” Pathak said.