Continuing its crackdown against illegal call centres in the district, the Noida cyber cell and Sector 20 police conducted a joint raid in Sector 6 on Tuesday afternoon, officials said on Wednesday.
Eighteen people were arrested for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing them jobs. All accused were produced before a Magistrate and later sent to jail. The police said the team acted on a tip-off from an informant, following which the office of ‘Career Builder Services’ in B block of Sector 6 was raided.
“The accused got customer data from a web portal and would dupe people on the pretext of providing them employment opportunities. They would ask the victims to first register themselves and pay a fee, which ranged from ₹1,500 to ₹15,000,” said Superintendent of Police (Crime) Ashok Kumar Singh.
The accused would stop receiving their calls once the victims paid the registration fee, Mr. Singh said, adding that the owner, manager and three assistants are absconding at the moment. The police said all arrested persons are either graduates or have studied up to Class XII.
“They are all aged between 20 and 30 years, and were paid ₹8,000-₹10,000 per month. Most are residents of Bihar, while the rest belong to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. It seems they were aware that the work they were doing was illegal. Almost all speak a bit of English,” said the senior officer.
The police said the accused have been working in this office for four months. They suspect the accused duped hundreds of people of lakhs of rupees during this period. The police have seized 30 cell phones — provided to the accused by the owner, five computers, two Aadhaar cards and one PAN card. A case has been registered against them under sections related to cheating and forgery, and sections under the IT Act.