In a massive crackdown on cheats who dupe foreign nationals on the pretext of providing technical support and utility services online, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell busted two illegal international call centres with the arrest of 26 persons.

Apart from the 26 arrests made in the case, including the call center owners, 40 people have been detained by the IFSO from both the sites of the operational call centers, the police said on Thursday.

According to a senior police official, they allegedly cheated innocent US nationals on the pretext of providing technical support posing to be on behalf of big online commerce platforms.

The two fraudulent BPOs were functional in Naraina and Dwarka areas, while the police have also recovered cash to the tune of Rs 23.5 lakhs from the premises along with 25 laptops, 32 cell phones, and four computers used in the commission of crimes, the police said.

The police had input regarding an illegal call centre being operated in Naraina Vihar, which is involved in large-scale cyber cheating with US citizens on the pretext of providing tech support.

Accordingly, a team under the supervision of ACP Manoj Kumar under the overall supervision of Sunil Panchal Addl. DCP, IFSO was assigned to verify the facts about the intel on the illicit call centre, following which a raid was conducted on the premises where the police team found some suspicious activities, where several persons were seen calling up foreign citizens, impersonating customer care staff of various online companies.

A case was registered against the alleged fraud call centre and a total of 21 people, including 17 men and 4 women were arrested, while the kingpins Mohit Bansal alias Kaku and Puneet Sehgal were also arrested from the spot, the police said.

It was revealed that the main accused in the case has been operating the call centre for more than six years. They have been shifting the location of the call centre in the past in the NCR region to avoid being tracked by the police.

Most of the accused were found to be either school dropouts or simple graduates and were hired on a commission plus incentive basis. They were using high-end technical software “MicroSIP”, “Xlite”, and “Google Voice” for making calls impersonating US numbers.

In the other case pertaining to the illegal call centre at Dwarka, three accused were arrested, they were found to be running a call centre in the Village Bharthal of Dwarka, also targeting US nationals, and duped them on the pretext of providing technical support posing as US-based utility providers.

The trio has been identified as Sachin Yadav, Shanshank Bharatwal, and Jagjeet Singh, the police said.

A case was registered against the scam call centre and three accused persons were arrested. The masterminds of the illegal call centre, Sachin Yadav, Shanshank Bharatwal, and Jagjeet Singh, have also been arrested from the spot.

During the police raid, a total of 48 persons, including two women were found involved in this activity and used high-end technical software for making calls impersonating US contact numbers.

Further investigation of the case is in progress. All relevant devices have been seized, the police added.