| GWALIOR, July 26: Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a fake call centre allegedly targeting American citizens and arrested four persons in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, an officer said The accused allegedly impersonated agents of a US-based lender and duped victims by obtaining their personal data on the pretext of processing loans, Mohana police station house officer Vinay Singh Tomar told reporters. Acting on a tip-off, police raided Hotel Jainpath along the Agra-Mumbai National Highway, about 35 km from Gwalior, where the accused had allegedly been operating the fake call centre for the last five months. During interrogation, the accused told the police that they worked under the directions of the absconding mastermind, Praval Pratap Singh Parihar. They allegedly received personal data of American citizens through WhatsApp and email and posed as agents of the US-based "Lending Club" to offer loans. After gaining the victims' confidence, they allegedly collected social security numbers, bank details and processing charges in the form of gift vouchers, the official said. The accused told investigators they were paid a monthly salary of Rs 15,000-20,000 in cash and also received a five per cent commission on the amount allegedly defrauded from victims, Tomar said. Police arrested Abhishek Rajput (26) and Shivendra Singh Parihar (31), both residents of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Aryan Rajput (20) of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, and Shubhom Ghosh (23) of Dimapur in Nagaland. Four laptops, seven mobile phones, headphones, scripts used for the alleged fraud, customer data and other incriminating material were seized from their possession, said police. |
