Fake call centre busted in south Delhi, 2 held

New Delhi, June 22 (IANS) With the arrest of two persons, including one woman, the police claimed to have busted a fake call centre duping people on the pretext of issuing insurance policies in south Delhi. The accused have been identified as Pradeep Gupta and Neha, an official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (south district) Benita Mary Jaiker said a complaint was lodged on March 2 at Cyber Police Station where the complainant stated that he received a call from Neha who convinced him to take out an insurance policy. Later, Pradeep Gupta came to meet him in this regard. On the assurance of Pradeep Gupta, the complainant got Rs 49,171 transferred to the UPI of Gupta. The complainant was assured that he will get the policy documents soon. Later, the accused stopped responding to the complainant's calls and blocked his number and ultimately switched off his mobile numbers.

Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code at the Cyber Police Station. During the course of investigation, the team collected bank account details of the beneficiary accounts and details of the alleged calling numbers were obtained. During further enquiry, it was revealed that the accused were using fake SIM cards for making calls to the complainant. The bank details were analysed and a trail was followed.

"Finally, the location of the accused persons was zeroed down in Tilak Nagar area and subsequently a raid was conducted and the accused Pradeep Kumar Gupta was arrested," the DCP said.

When interrogated, Pradeep Gupta disclosed that he used to work as an insurance agent but to make easy and quick money, he started duping the customers by taking money from them and not proceeding with their policy. He opened a fake call centre and employed some staff who used to call on random numbers and lured people to take insurance policies.