DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand state cyber cell busted a call centre in Dehradun‘s Racecourse Road area on Thursday night and arrested its directors for allegedly duping Americans on pretext of seeking donations for US Fire and Police services.
According to police, the two accused directors were identified as Pooja Yadav and Bajrang Prasad, both residents of Dehradun. They were operating the call centre based on automated voice commands to reply to their victims over telephonic conversations. Ankush Mishra, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), state cyber cell, who led the team, said that a raid was conducted on the call centre after receiving a tip-off. “During the raid, the accused were found to be duping American nationals on pretext of seeking donations for US Fire and Police services. The two accused had employed several youngsters to handle the calls. However, they have not been booked as they were unaware of what the directors were doing,” said Mishra.
He also informed that the accused were operating the call centre using automated voice commands. “They had pre-recorded voice commands in American accent to reply to their victims during the telephonic conversation so as to avoid suspicion of a fraudster calling them using fake accent. They implemented this tactic as foreign nationals, especially in the US, are now aware of the fraud calls from India in which the perpetrators speak faking their accent. The accused duo was earning around Rs 10 to 12 lakh per month through the fraud and were using the money to live a luxurious life,” said Mishra.