4th Such Centre Busted in 3 Months
A police team raided the office around 7 am and found 12 men and four women inside. The landlord reportedly told police that the premises were rented in May for Rs 1 lakh a month, to be paid entirely in cash.
When asked to call him, the friend reportedly said he was in Thakurganj, raising the constable’s suspicion. Police said the gang allegedly operated fake customer care and technical support numbers on the internet. He also told investigators that employees were not allowed to carry mobile phones inside the office.
Lucknow: Sixteen people, including four women, were detained after police busted a suspected cyber fraud call centre allegedly targeting US citizens from a commercial building barely a few hundred metres from the Kapoorthala police outpost in Aliganj early Friday. The man claimed he was waiting for a friend. The policeman kept watch and soon heard the building’s shutter being opened. He subsequently saw several people entering the premises and alerted senior officers. They were questioned for several hours before being detained. When US citizens contacted the numbers for assistance with computer or software-related problems, the calls were allegedly routed to the Lucknow centre. Police identified the suspected mastermind as Pranshu Kushwaha of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, who allegedly operates a company named Nexolan Solution. Investigators are searching for him and other members of the network suspected to be handling the financial operations.
DCP, North, Amit Kumar Anand said a preliminary investigation indicated that the centre was allegedly targeting American citizens by posing as a technical-support service.