Accused used to send pop-ups to unsuspecting people that their devices had been hacked and infected with malware/virus and then cheat them on the pretext of providing technical support by Microsoft, Main accused and owner, Abhishek arrested. Converted the cheated amount into Crypto-currency and got it en-cashed. Six persons including callers have been arrested, 7 laptops, 7 headphones, 7 mobile phones, ₹ 7.10 Lacs cash, 1 internet router and 1 switch from the possession of accused persons.
New Delhi (Face2News)
With the arrest of 6 people namely: Abhishek Chhabra S/o Late Sh. Sudhir Kumar Chhabra R/o 25B, Single Story, Ramesh Nagar, Delhi, Age-31 Years, Rahul Gupta S/o Sanjay Gupta R/o Gali No. 4, Jhankar Chowk, Goyla Diary Village, Delhi, Age-24 Years, Pushkar Raj S/o Raj Kamal R/o WZ-70, Milap Nagar, Uttam Nagar, Delhi, Age-23 Years, Aditya Dhankar S/o Vikram Singh Dhankar R/o 734, Sector-37, Noida, U.P., Age-23 Years, Arpit Chaudhary S/o Ajay Chaudhary R/o Flat No. A-44, Omax City, Bahadurgarh, Haryana, Age-23 Years and Ashish Vaswani S/o Rajesh Vaswani R/o 211-212, 3rd Floor, Pocket-4, Sector-25, Rohini, Delhi, Age-25 Years, ISC/Crime Branch has busted a fake international call centre in Paschim Vihar, Delhi involved in duping US citizens on the pretext of providing them with technical support from Microsoft.
Mr. Amit Goel, IPS, DCP, said, on July 18 police received information that a fake call centre was being run in the Paschim Vihar area of Delhi which dupes the US Nationals on the pretext of providing technical support to the users of Microsoft and Apple.
A dedicated team was formed comprising of Inspr. Satendra Mohan, Insp. Mahipal, SI Imran, SI Surender Rana, ASI Yatander, ASI Jaikumar, ASI Vikas, ASI Sukender and HC Navin under the supervision of ACP/ISC Ramesh Lamba to verify the information and collect details. Technical analysis was done with respect to the mobile and the location of the accused was confirmed. On this, at about 11.30 PM, a raid was conducted at the premises and the accused persons were found operating a fake call centre from where calls were being made to unsuspecting people in foreign countries and they were being cheated by the accused who were pretending to be from Microsoft Inc.
Total 7 laptops, 7 headphones, 7 mobile phones, ₹ 7.10 Lacs cash, 1 internet router and 1 switch were recovered from the possession of accused persons. Accordingly, a case vide FIR No. 143/22 dt 19.07.2021 was registered u/s 419/420/120 B/34 IPC and 66(C) & 66(D) I.T.Act in PS Crime Branch. All relevant devices have been seized.
INTERROGATION AND MODUS OPERANDI
The main accused, Abhishek Chhabra was running this fake call-center for last 01 month and is a commerce graduate. The victims of the scam are people residing in the foreign countries. The accused send pop-ups to the computers of such unsuspecting people that their system has been compromised and they should call at the given number for technical assistance by Microsoft. When the victim calls, the call comes to this fake call center through “X-Lite” app.
The accused pretend to be from Microsoft technical support assistance team and induce her/him to give remote access of their computer to them through application like “Ultra Viewer” or “Any desk.” After that, they tell the victim that several malicious programs including malwares, spywares, etc. have been found in their system, when in reality, there is no such issue.
They further “caution” the victim that their banking credentials might be compromised if immediate remedial steps are not taken. The victim, fearing for her/his financial security, agrees to pay the amount as asked for by the accused. The payment is made in gift coupon i.e. Target, Google Play etc and the same is being encashed through grey market.
The said encasher is called as “BLOCKER”. The “BLOCKER” sales the coupon and buys Crypto-currency from the money. Later they encashed it by selling Crypto for cash. Upon receiving the payment, the accused persons pretend to clean up the malwares, virus etc. from the victims system. All this while, the victim is under the impression that he/she is getting legitimate technical support from Microsoft Inc. As per the interrogation of accused and data recovered from the systems, a total amount of more than ₹ 1 crore has been cheated by the accused in a similar fashion from victims based in the US in last one month.
The staff who convert maximum calls in money is called as “Banker” that means he has specialization in this illegal trade. The recovered cash was kept by Abhishek from the cheated money to distribute among staff as their incentive, hence the same was seized.
KNOW THE ACCUSED
Abhishek Chhabra is a commerce graduate and he is a close friend of Micky. To earn quick money he joined hands with Micky and started fake call center. Rahul Gupta is studied upto 12th standard. He came in contact with Abhishek through an online consultancy service. After few days training he started making and receiving calls from fake call center. Pushkar Raj is studied upto 12th standard and also having diploma of Music Production.
He was in need of money so he wish to join a call center. Then he came in contact with Abhishek through an online consultancy service. After few days training he started making and receiving calls from fake call center. Aditya Dhankar is studied upto 12th standard. He came in contact with Abhishek through an online consultancy service. After few days training he started making and receiving calls from fake call center.
Arpit Chaudhary is studied upto 12th standard. Earlier he was working in an online consultancy company in Gurugram. He came in contact with Abhishek through an online consultancy service. After few days training he started making and receiving calls from fake call center.Ashish Vaswani is studied upto 12th standard. He came in contact with Abhishek through an online consultancy service. After few days training he started making and receiving calls from fake call center. Further investigation of the case is under progress.
