Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 23
During a major raid operation launched by the Cyber Crime Division of Punjab Police at two fake call centers in Chandigarh, at least 42 youths from Nagaland were among those arrested on May 14 night. This was in addition to about 155 workers who were apprehended by the police in total.
The incident came to light after names of the accused individuals began circulating on social media inquiring of their relatives and families, in a bid to reach out to them. Speaking with the President of Naga Students Union Chandigarh Ngamlung O Phom, he mentioned that 34 of the arrested were males while 8 were females. The student body came to know of the incident last Thursday, May 16, he said. “They are currently being held in two different districts jails,” he added further.
Phom mentioned that several of the Naga youths had only recently moved to Chandigarh due to which none of their names or mobile numbers were registered with their student body. They were also not listed with the Naga Christian Fellowship (NCF) as well.
“As far as I know, this is the first time such an incident involving Naga youths have happened in the city,” he said.
Modus operandi involved duping US citizens through gift card scam
According to a report in The Indian Express the modus operandi at the call centers involved duping US citizens through three particular methods. It is an Amazon gift card fraud where victims would transfer money via gift cards, Payday fraud to solicit transferring of money for victims who had low credit scores and a common Microsoft tech support scam.
The report stated that the call centers were located in Mohali, a satellite city nearby Chandigarh and run by Gujarati based kingpins. It mentioned that the main accused was currently absconding.
An FIR had also been registered under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security) 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) 471 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
