Uttar Pradesh STF police bust fake call centre gang, arrests six

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The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the leader of an organised gang and five other members involved in defrauding people through fake call centres. The gang cheated individuals using a website operated by foreign hackers and cyber frauds who created online gambling games.

Police recovered several items from the suspects, including five fake Aadhaar cards, four pre-activated SIM cards, 58 SIM cards, three cheque books from various corporate bank accounts, two debit cards, six mobile phones, a car, and a motorcycle. The arrests were made at Safedabad crossing in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh following a tip-off, reported The Times of India.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Dheeraj Kumar Singh from Vijaynagar, Neelmatha, Lucknow; Tarun Purushottam Gavari from Indiranagar, Lucknow; and Abhishek, Sarjeet Singh, Rashid Khan, and Aman Yadav from Barabanki.

UP STF DSP D K Shahi said the gang tricked innocent people by calling them from fake call centres and conned them through a website operated by foreign hackers. They used other people’s bank accounts to store the stolen money and paid them 5% of the transaction amount as a commission.

The police said, “Under arrest, Dheeraj, Tarun, and Sarjeet told police they used the corporate bank accounts of Rashid, Aman, and Abhishek, along with their cheque books, debit cards, and SIM cards, and paid them 5% of the transaction amount as commission.”

The scammers were connected to the bank account holders through the Telegram messaging app for the past year and had transferred crores of rupees earned illegally through online gaming. These accounts operated for two to three days and then were frozen by the bank. The accused also purchased blank and activated SIM cards and cloned them to commit fraud. They admitted using fake Aadhaar cards to buy SIM cards and book hotel rooms. The police said that the 58 SIM cards recovered were provided by a person named Daksh, a resident of the Irrigation Department colony in Barabanki.

The police traced chats regarding transactions using several bank accounts and photographs of the accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp.

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