Fake call centre busted in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad police on Thursday arrested a fraudster who was running a fake call centre to mint money by making false promises about providing a job with Indigo airlines.

Superintendent of Police (City) Akash Tomar said that he received a mail from Pranav Tiwari, a resident of Allahabad, complaining that he received a mail from recruitment12@gmail.com followed by a phone call from mobile number 8377834952, providing a job in Indigo airlines. The caller asked him to deposit Rs 2,000 in saving account number 36700145988 in State Bank of India as file processing charges. Tiwari deposited the said amount.

On Tuesday, he again received a call asking for an amount of Rs 6,500 to be deposited in the same account number. Becoming suspicious, he refused to deposit the money and mailed a complaint to Tomar. On Tomar's instructions, police in Khoda area registered a complaint under Sections 420 and 466 of IPC, and Section 66 of the IT Act.

Acting on a tip off, the police raided a hideout in Deepak Vihar near Vishal Mega Mart and discovered that a call centre was being run from there. They arrested Santosh Kumar, a resident of Vaishali district in Uttar Pradesh, while his accomplice fled the spot.

The police recovered eight mobile phones, including the one from which the scam calls were made. A laptop, its charger and a register containing 84 names for their next victims were also recovered. "Khoda police is conducting raids in Noida to nab the absconding suspect," Tomar said.