Wednesday, 15 MAY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) busted a fake call centre in Haridwar from where people across the country were duped under the pretext of selling credit cards. The accused was arrested under the STF’s new campaign “Will not let Uttarakhand become Jamtara” as Jamtara in Jharkhand is considered to be the country’s cyber crime hotspot. Since STF has recently arrested several such groups across the State that were duping people across the country, it started a campaign to nab all such groups that can potentially turn cities here into a cyber crime hotspot. The senior superintendent of police of STF Ayush Agrawal said that the STF received a tip-off that a gang is active in the SIIDCUL area of Haridwar that has been duping people across the country under the pretext of selling credit cards. The gang is reportedly involved in at least 22 cyber fraud cases all across the country. The SSP said that the STF team raided a house in Ramnagar colony under the SIIDCUL police station area late on Monday and found only one person named Vipin Pal (26) on the spot. The team also recovered six mobile phones, four empty mobile phone boxes, one computer, 14 debit cards, three registers and one cheque book of ICICI bank, among other items. The STF registered a case against the accused and his gang under section 419, 420, 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66C, 66D of the Information Technology Act at the SIIDCUL police station. Agrawal said that Pal told during interrogation that he is 10th pass and has been duping people for the past several years by making calls through mobile in the name of providing credit cards, insurance and various loans. Several other people are involved with him in the crime who also sold him the contact details of the victims. He had also hired some women to make calls to potential victims across the country. The police have found a transaction of over Rs 70 lakh in his account. The SSP said that the gang members used to send a link to the victims in the name of helping them get credit cards and once they clicked on it, they got access to their whole data. The STF is working on arresting other gang members, he added.
