Mohali: Fake call center busted, 37 arrested including two masterminds

Mohali: Police today busted a fake call centre operating in Phase 8-B of Industrial Area and arrested 37 people including 12 women. The fake call centre was being run to dupe foreign nationals. SSP Dr. Sandeep Garg said that 45 laptops, 45 headphone mics, 59 mobile handsets (23 for office and 36 for personal use) and a black Mercedes-Benz car (DL-08-CAK 5520) have been recovered from the suspects. Revealing the modus operandi of the gang, the SSP said that they used to send fake emails to foreigners stating that a transaction has to be made from their PayPal account for which they can contact a customer care number, which belonged to the fake call centre. Gullible people who called were duped by tricking them. Police said they received information about a fake call centre operating under the guise of an IT company called Webtap Pvt Ltd at Kailash Tower in Industrial Area, following which a team was formed under the supervision of DSP (city) Mohit Agarwal. Inspector Sukhbir Singh and SHO Abhishek Sharma were members of the team. The team busted the fake call centre and arrested 37 people, including the kingpin Kevin Patel and Partik Dudhat from Gujarat. Most of the suspects are from northeastern states. They have been booked under sections 406, 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.