GHAZIABAD: A fake call centre that cheated thousands of youths with the promise of jobs in multinational companies has been busted in the city with the arrest of eight persons, including two masterminds.
The accused had been running the sham call centre from Raj Nagar District Centre for the past two years and is believed to have duped thousands of youths across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states. Police said they were scanning bank accounts to ascertain the exact worth of the scam. The cops believe the gang members used a chunk of the money to buy land.
The arrested men have been identified as Swatantra Sharma (49), the kingpin and owner of a medicine shop in Ghaziabad; Lalit Sharma (34), who worked with an MNC in Gurgaon as a website designer; Tushar alias Akash Tomar (40), who runs a textile shop; Vikram Singh Yadav (45), Pritam Singh (40), who was a labour contractor; Vishal Kumar (24), an M.Com student, Sanjay Bharadwaj (32), a contractual worker in the electricity department; and Himanshu Sharma (19), a Class XII student.
Two of the gang members are absconding — Praveen Sharma, a resident of Dehradun, and Vikas, from Ghaziabad.
Police said the gang members had divided themselves into three groups — one that made the phone calls, a second that forged offer letters and other documents and the third that sourced data of youths on the lookout for jobs.
Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said his force had received a tip-off about the sham call centre running from Raj Nagar District Centre and examined their calls for three days. On Saturday morning, the office was raided. “The gang would purchase data of youths seeking jobs from online portals. The accused would then dial a job aspirant and offer them posts in reputed companies. But they would first ask the victims to register themselves with the company. The gang would charge anything between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, as the case may be,” he added.
The accused are believed to have told the cops that the gang would call up at least 100 people, of whom they expected 15 to fall prey to their promises. During the raid, police have recovered logos and letterheads of several multinational companies.
The accused had been running the sham call centre from Raj Nagar District Centre for the past two years and is believed to have duped thousands of youths across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states. Police said they were scanning bank accounts to ascertain the exact worth of the scam. The cops believe the gang members used a chunk of the money to buy land.
The arrested men have been identified as Swatantra Sharma (49), the kingpin and owner of a medicine shop in Ghaziabad; Lalit Sharma (34), who worked with an MNC in Gurgaon as a website designer; Tushar alias Akash Tomar (40), who runs a textile shop; Vikram Singh Yadav (45), Pritam Singh (40), who was a labour contractor; Vishal Kumar (24), an M.Com student, Sanjay Bharadwaj (32), a contractual worker in the electricity department; and Himanshu Sharma (19), a Class XII student.
Two of the gang members are absconding — Praveen Sharma, a resident of Dehradun, and Vikas, from Ghaziabad.
Police said the gang members had divided themselves into three groups — one that made the phone calls, a second that forged offer letters and other documents and the third that sourced data of youths on the lookout for jobs.
Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said his force had received a tip-off about the sham call centre running from Raj Nagar District Centre and examined their calls for three days. On Saturday morning, the office was raided. “The gang would purchase data of youths seeking jobs from online portals. The accused would then dial a job aspirant and offer them posts in reputed companies. But they would first ask the victims to register themselves with the company. The gang would charge anything between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, as the case may be,” he added.
The accused are believed to have told the cops that the gang would call up at least 100 people, of whom they expected 15 to fall prey to their promises. During the raid, police have recovered logos and letterheads of several multinational companies.
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