Noida: Five persons were arrested from a call centre in Sector 1 for cheating around 250 people of a total of Rs 62 lakh by offering them loans at lower interest rates but never disbursing the money.Additional DCP Manisha Singh said the group targeted people looking for loans and lured them with offers of instant approval at low interest rates. Once the victims agreed, they were asked to deposit a processing fee of Rs 20k-25k per person. After receiving the money, the fraudsters neither sanctioned the loan nor refunded the amount.According to police, the accused obtained the contact details of people seeking loans through the internet. They then called the prospective borrowers while posing as representatives of reputed finance companies and assured them of quick loan approval at attractive interest rates. After gaining the victims’ confidence, they demanded processing charges. In several cases, they also collected Aadhaar details, PAN card information, OTPs and banking credentials. Once the payment was received, the accused switched off their mobile phones and stopped responding to the victims.A senior officer said the gang may have cheated around 250 people. More than 10 complaints from different states were registered against the mobiles recovered from the call centre, indicating that the scam extended beyond the NCR.On Saturday, police received a tip-off that the fraud was being run from the call centre in Sector 1 and raided the premises.Apart from five mobile phones, three laptops, six cheque books, one bank passbook, 160 calling data sheets, 11 registers, a billing book and an internet router were seized from the spot. Investigators found the call centre was being rented for Rs 40,000 per month and looked like a regular office from outside, thus attracting no suspicion.Pawan Kumar, Mohit, Harsh Sharma, Swati and Preeti were arrested. Most of them are originally from different districts of Uttar Pradesh.Investigators also found that most of the accused are graduates. Police said they allegedly used their education and communication skills to convince victims that they were employees of legitimate financial institutions, making the scam appear credible.The seized devices and records are expected to provide crucial evidence about the scale of the fraud and the network behind it. Police are now examining the accused’s bank accounts, financial transactions and digital evidence to determine the total amount of money siphoned off and identify other members of the racket.A case has been registered under relevant sections, and police are continuing the investigation to trace other associates and determine whether a larger mastermind was involved. They also urged the public not to transfer processing fees for loans offered over phone calls or online without verifying the lender’s authenticity and advised victims of cyber fraud to immediately report such incidents through the 1930 helpline or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
