The Ghaziabad cyber cell arrested three people during a raid on a call center for deceiving hundreds of unsuspecting victims under the pretense of providing low-interest loans and renewal of insurance policies. Himanshu Shekhar (32), a resident of Bihar, Johnny Singh (25), a native of Ghaziabad, and Sandeep Gupta (29) from Bandaare are the three men accused.
They were arrested back in January 2021 by Aligarh police and booked under section 420(cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged documents), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 474 (possession of documents as described in 466 or 467 intending to use known forged documents as genuine) under the IPC.
Johnny Singh is the owner of the center and has operated it for the past 3 months. According to Police, he operated in the Raj Nagar District Centre, where he often changed his offices to avoid arrest. Himanshu would buy SIM cards from Bihar, using documents of poor people, Gupta would open accounts in various banks for fraudulent transactions.
Abhay Mishra, circle officer in charge of the cyber cell, told TOI that the accused made calls to policyholders informing them that their policy was going to end, offering policy renewal at a discounted rate and promising substantial returns if they invested in other policies. Once the victims agreed, they were instructed to send photos of their bank account, passbook, and a copy of Aadhaar card through WhatsApp or email.
Once the men received the documents, they would inform the victim to share the OTP received on their mobile numbers linked with their bank accounts. They would then assess the target’s bank accounts, using the OTP, and transfer money to another bank. The men accused also swindled unsuspecting victims on the pretense of providing low-interest loans. After transferring the funds, they would break the SIM and transfer the money in small amounts to other bank accounts.
great article Boda!