Delhi Police expose fake call center scamming Americans
NEW DELHI, INDIA — Delhi Police recently raided a fraudulent call center that was scamming American citizens under the guise of a travel agency offering discounted airfares.
Acting on a tip-off, The Crime Branch of Delhi Police raided the office of Travel Vault, a bogus travel agency in the Pitampura area.
Exploiting the sham website and toll-free numbers, the telecallers posed as airline representatives from the United States and lured victims by publicizing discounted tickets. They then deceitfully charged an extra $100-200 per ticket to the victims’ accounts.
Four key accused — Shantanu (39), Swapan (36), Virender (38), and Pankaj (37), all ex-BPO employees and partners of the agency — were arrested. Police also detained 20 telecallers and IT staff employed by the agency.
Moreover, the crime branch seized 18 computers, four mobile phones, one laptop, one router, and other articles used in the crime from the agency office.
The accused told the police they had an associate in the U.S. named Rohit Dass who helped them create a fake travel website that appeared atop Google searches after heavy ad spending.
The stolen money was transferred to Dass, who distributed it among his Indian associates. They kept altering the fake toll-free numbers whenever Google identified them and restricted them to dodge detection.
Delhi Police have filed a case against the fraudsters under relevant Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections. Further investigation to unearth more victims is ongoing.
This current raid is part of India’s operations to stop fake call centers and tech support scams. Last month, the Noida police reported busting over 250 scam call centers targeting Americans.
Tech giants Microsoft and Amazon have also pledged their support to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to combat tech support scams and conduct raids on illegal call centers nationwide.
