5 arrested for cheating of Rs 2.20 lakh

Five cybercriminals, who had created a fake online shopping website and a call centre to cheat gullible people, have been arrested by the cybercrime cell of the UT police for duping a city resident of Rs 2.2 lakh.

Puran Singh, a resident of the city, had reported that he had receive a call on his mobile phone from an unknown number. The caller informed him that he could shop any product from “homeshop10.com” at cheap rates and redeem prizes.

The complainant ordered an iron for Rs 670 on the website. He received a call. The caller, who introduced himself as Sahil Raja, told the complainant that he had won an iPhone.

The caller made the complainant deposit Rs 5,990 (fee) to generate a bill and later, Rs 8,990 for the phone’s insurance. The caller also made him deposit Rs 21,582 as GST charges.

The police said the complainant was duped of a total of Rs 2.2 lakh. The police registered a case at the cybercrime police station.

During investigation, a team, led by Inspector Ranjit Singh, conducted raids in Faridabad and Delhi NCR. Suspects Naveen (20), Puneet Singh (24), Suraj (23) and Akash (24) were arrested. They had provided SIM cards and bank accounts to transfer the money.

During interrogation, the suspects revealed that Gopal Shah (27) was the kingpin of the racket and he also owned the fake website. The police conducted a raid in the Tughalakabad area of Delhi and nabbed Gopal.

The police said a debit card, three mobile phones and 200 SIM cards had been recovered from the suspects.