Noida, Gurugram police busted fake call centres duping US citizens

Noida police raided a fake call centre on Thursday and arrested 84 employees including women for defrauding US citizens by posing as American government officials. The operation took place at a call center situated in Sector 6, where around 150 computer sets were confiscated.

The action was prompted by intelligence indicating the execution of illegal activities during nighttime.

The police informed journalists that the US embassy has been notified of the situation, and authorities are in the process of establishing formal communication with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol.

The call centre employees would reach out to US citizens through voice messages, induce fear and eventually extract money from them.

A similar fake call centre was busted by Gurugram police earlier this week. This call centre was also involved in duping US citizens by tempering with their electronic gadgets hacking their systems and duping them with huge amounts of money. The police arrested 10 suspects in this case recovering Rs 10 lakh from the possession of the arrested persons.

Further investigation is also underway. It has been seen that such call centres have mushroomed in different cities of India where they try to dupe citizens within India and outside to earn money through hacking or inducing fear among their victims.

Netflix web series – Jamtara is a crime drama series that showcases the lives of a group of young men in the Jharkhand village of Jamtara who run a successful phishing scam. The series is inspired by true events and explores the dark side of the Indian call center industry.

The series was released in 2020 and has been praised for its realistic portrayal of the Indian call center industry and the scams that are often associated with it. It has also been credited with raising awareness of the issue of cybercrime in India.