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Nagpur: In a major success, Cyber Cell of Crime Branch and Pratap Nagar police jointly raided a Call Centre in Delhi and busted a bogus online shopping racket. The Manager of the Call Centre has been arrested and hunt for operator and other accused is on.
The arrested accused has been identified as Suryaprakash IshwarnathTiwari (26), a resident of Surdas Colony, Tilpat, Faridabad (Haryana). Probing a fraud complaint lodged by Wardha Road resident Ulhas Atmaram Nandankar (53) with Pratap Nagar Police Station, the Crime Branch Cyber Cell and team of Pratap Nagar raided the Call Centre situated at Sant Nagar, Nehru Palace, Police station Amar Colony, South East New Delhi.
According to Nandankar, he had received a call a month before from an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as an employee of Xclusiveoffer.com, an online shopping website. He asked Nandankar to shop for a pair of shoes from their online website and they will shortlist his name in the lucky draw list of Xclusiveoffer.com Deal and Drive. The trickster caller informed that the winner will be given a Hyundai i10 car. The deal attracted Nandankar and he bought a pair of shoes. The caller continued giving false hopes to Nandankar of winning an i10 car and asked him to continue with shopping. At the same time, the caller asked Nandankar to deposit some additional amount in different bank accounts as this will definitely help him win an i10 car. As per the caller’s instructions, Nandankar deposited Rs 7 lakh in different bank accounts and also kept on purchasing the products. To gain the trust of Nandankar, the caller even sent a laptop, a LED television and other products worth Rs 3.50 lakh to him. This definitely kept Nandankar’s interest who was now sure that I10 car would also be his. Nandankar kept purchasing the products and later realised the he had deposited Rs 7 lakh in different accounts but the i10 car is still elusive. He then contacted the same numbers from which he was receiving the calls but failed to get any response. He soon realised that he had been taken for a “costly” ride. He reported the matter to Rana Pratap Nagar police who then informed the Cyber Cell. Cyber Cell team tracked the locations of the numbers and reached Delhi.
Investigations revealed that the numbers are being operated from a call centre. Under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police Shweta Khedkar, PI Bhanudas Pindurkar, PSI Dorlikar, Head Constable Santosh Thakur, Santosh Madankar, Amit Bhurey, Rahul Dhote and NPC Vijay Wadaskar from RP Nagar police station conducted the raid at the call centre and arrested Tiwari. Police have seized mobile handset, landline, computers and other materials worth Rs 50,000 from the spot. Police said that the owner has hired many employees at the call centre. The employees would make calls to many people and lure them in such bogus deals.
