Mumbra man held for illegal call centre

THANE: Abdul Chaudhari, 23, has been arrested from Mumbra on charges of running an illegal call centre from his house in Amrut Nagar for two years. He had hired three persons to make calls to elderly citizens in the US on behalf of insurance firms.
Acting on a tip-off, cops raided the house on Thursday. The police said the call centre was not used to cheat anyone or extort money, but it was functioning illegally without a licence from the department of telecommunications.

"The firm used to contact senior citizens in the US and enquire if they have a pain relief belt for their joints that is provided free under the public insurance scheme there. Should a person reply in the negative, they would share his size and other relevant details with two insurance companies there. The companies would then provide the free belts. The US government provides the belts in their medical policy and it is legal. The only problem with this call centre was that it did not have a DoT licence," said inspector A Kshirsagar from Mumbra police station.

The authorities said Chaudhari's employees used to contact the US residents through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and get their personal details. These employees were hired after interviews and were not aware the firm is not legal.

Chaudhari has been held for cheating and under the Indian Telegraph Act. Valuables worth Rs 1.1 lakh were seized from the call centre.