Fake call centre offering jobs busted in Noida, three held

GHAZIABAD: Probing a kidnapping case led the Ghaziabad police to the busting of a fake call centre that ran a job scam for over two years, promising people employment in exchange for money, on Friday evening. Three persons, including the mastermind, have been arrested. Police said the accused made the most of the lockdown, targeting a number of retrenched employees desperately looking for jobs.
The call centre operated out of a house near Labour Chowk in Khoda Colony. The modus operandi was simple. “A website — www.data-entry.online — would draw people looking for jobs. The ‘call centre’ would then get in touch with these applicants by calling or mailing them, asking them to pay for services like registration, confirmed job interviews, and so on,” said Sandeep Singh, SHO of Khoda police station.
“The accused also used to source data of their potential targets from an online portal. And with all the data in hand, the accused would call up job seekers, and assure them of employment only if they register themselves on www.data-entry.online. The registration fee ranged from Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000,” Singh said.
Once the registration process is complete, the accused would provide a WhatsApp number to their targets for further conversation. “Subsequently, the accused charged their targets up to Rs 2 lakh for fake telephonic job interviews and offer letters,” the SHO said. Once the payment was made, there would be complete silence. “They used to buy SIM cards using documents of their targets.”
The accused have been identified as Ravi Chauhan, the mastermind, and his two accomplices — Pramod and Vikas, all residents of Noida. However, one more accused is on the run. One car, six mobile phones, calling sheets, several SIM cards, laptops and Rs 2,000 cash have been seized from their possession.
Police suspect the accused had duped at least a 1,000 people in the past two years. “They made the most of the lockdown, duping at least 70 people of large sums just in the past four months. These are mostly retrenched employees. Probe revealed some of the accused bought land in Delhi-NCR from the ill-gotten money,” said another police officer.