Another call centre of cyber criminals busted in Varanasi

VARANASI: One more call centre being run by cyber criminals to dupe people out of money in the name of investment and loans, as well as extorting money on the seizure of parcels with objectionable items, was busted by Rohaniya police in a late-night action in the Akhari Avleshpur area.

A total of 32 men and women working there were taken into custody by the police, while two managers of the gang, which is operated by a Mumbai-based kingpin, were absconding.DCP Varuna Pramod Kumar said that teams were engaged to arrest both the managers of this call centre being run for criminal activities after the seizure of CCTV footage. A forensic examination of the call centre was conducted, and further action is continuing to uncover the entire network being operated by cyber criminals through this call centre.

It also came to light that the kingpin of this network was operating from Mumbai.

He added that teams were also engaged to nab him.Led by ADCP Varuna Neetu, the police team raided a building in Avaleshpur around midnight on Wednesday when 32 men and women were found working at their workstations in a well-managed office setup. Cops asked all those workers to leave their computers and sit on the floor. After that, around 35 desktops and other electronic devices were sealed.

ADCP said that during the initial investigation by the police, it came to light that two locals were operating this centre in the capacity of managers. They employed youths, including women, from the North East, West Bengal, and other states. Credentials of all of them and also their whereabouts were being collected by the police after taking them to Rohania police station, after completing all legal formalities at the centre.During interrogation, those workers divulged that the two managers assigned them tasks after providing details and data to call. The callers from this centre targeted people in the name of loans and investments, while threats to pay extortion were also given by mentioning that a parcel containing objectionable items was received in the name of the call receiver. The money collected through this centre was transferred to network members and operators through Hawala.

Further investigation will clarify how long this centre operated and how many people were targeted by it, said officials.Since August 20, it was the third action by the police in which cyber criminals were found operating a well-managed call centre in a proper office setup. Initially, two fake call centres operating under the guise of investment and stock market trading were unearthed in the Sigra area when 29 members of the two gangs were arrested on August 21. On August 26, another gang of cyber criminals was busted by the cyber crime cell and Chowk police in the Moti Jheel Mahmoorganj area with the arrest of Rakesh Yadav, Mohammad Aslam, Rahul Gupta, Amit Kumar Yadav, Priyanshu Prajapati, and two women, who were running a fraudulent company and two call centres.