Gurgaon: Cyber Police in Faridabad busted a fake call centre operating out of a hotel in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden, arresting seven people — including the alleged kingpin — for duping around 500 people through banking and credit card fraud in a suspected multi-crore scam.The arrested have been identified as Nikhil, Akash, Dhruv, Sunil, Nitin and two women. Police recovered 14 mobile phones and 14 SIM cards from their possession.Police spokesperson SI Yashpal Yadav said the investigation began after a Sikri resident approached NIT Cyber police station with a cyber fraud complaint. The victim received a call from an unknown number on July 27 from a person claiming to be from credit card services, offering to increase his credit card limit. After the caller asked for and received an OTP, Rs 65,040 was deducted from the victim’s account.Police registered a cyber fraud case and traced the transaction to the hotel in Rajouri Garden. During questioning, Dhruv emerged as the alleged kingpin, while Nitin allegedly arranged the data, mobile phones and SIM cards used to run the operation. The remaining five accused, including the two women, worked as callers, posing as banking or credit card representatives and using various pretexts to extract banking details and OTPs from victims, which were then used for unauthorised transactions.During questioning, the accused disclosed that they had cheated between 400 and 500 people. Police are examining the 14 recovered phones and SIM cards to verify this claim, establish victims’ identities, and check for links to other cyber fraud cases.Investigators also uncovered how the gang allegedly laundered the proceeds: fraud money was used to buy goods on online platforms, which were then resold in the black market at lower prices, converting the fraudulent funds into cash. The financial trail linked to these purchases is under scrutiny.Police said Dhruv and Nitin have prior cybercrime cases against them. All seven accused are educated between Class 9 and Class 12.Investigators said they will now determine the exact number of victims, the total amount defrauded, and whether others helped arrange data, SIM cards, accounts, or the disposal of goods bought with fraud proceeds.
