New Delhi: Delhi police have arrested 19 people, including seven women, from South Delhi for allegedly imitating US officials from the Treasury Department and cheating on Americans with the pretext of giving free grants, officials said on Wednesday.
People accused of operating through illegal call centers in the South Malviya Nagar Delhi area, they said.
The police received information via email about the call center, after they carried out an attack and arrested the people accused, said a senior police officer.
The call center runs since January this year in the rented basement.
Twenty-two computers were installed in place, where 15 were used by callers, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said, “Sixteen people were found involved in calling US-based customers by mimicing officials from the US Department of Finance, which provided grants for selective citizens.” They cheat these people by using Vicidial through the cloud server and talking to them with the pretext of giving a free grant if they pay a fee of USD 100 and USD 200.
They will then ask the victims to give the number through a gift card or other wallet, said DCP.
When checking computer systems, Vicidial call software along with scripts found opened on their screen, police said.
They contacted the victims through the computer system automatically to rotate telephone numbers one by one in sequential order from the list of numbers uploaded on the cloud-based server, Thakur said.
Two cellphones are used for call centers.
In the alleged inspection of people, it was revealed that they held a gift card provided by the victims illegally and deceived US citizens, police said.
On average, three US citizens were cheated every day around Rs 50,000 to 75,000 Rs.
Further investigations are underway, police said, adding that 22 computers, 21 cellphones, among others, were found from their ownership.