Chandigarh: The UT cyber crime police have busted an alleged organised credit card fraud racket and arrested four people who were allegedly operating a fake call centre to target credit card holders with promises of welcome offers, reward points and other benefits.According to police, the accused posed as representatives of credit card companies and contacted cardholders, persuading them to click on fraudulent links or download malicious APK files. The applications allegedly enabled them to gain unauthorised access to victims’ mobile devices and carry out fraudulent transactions.An FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station on Aug 4, after a complainant allegedly lost approximately Rs 1.4 lakh through fraudulent credit card transactions. During the investigation, police managed to place a lien on Rs 1.34 lakh, preventing the money from being transferred further.Based on technical analysis and other leads, a police team raided a premises in Krishna Nagar, Delhi, on Sept 11 and arrested three accused — Sandeep Kumar (27) and Gaurav Kumar (33), both residents of Ghaziabad, and Archana Gupta (24). Police said Sandeep and Gaurav had studied up to Class XII and Class X, respectively, while Archana holds a BBA degree.Subsequently, police arrested another accused, Manuraj (24), a Class XII pass-out and resident of Ganga Sahay Colony in Delhi’s Mandoli area.Police seized 13 mobile phones, nine SIM cards and four registers containing customer-related data from the accused.Investigators said the fake call centre was used to identify and approach potential victims with attractive credit card-related offers. The accused allegedly lured victims into clicking malicious links or installing malware APK files, which enabled unauthorised access to their devices and facilitated fraudulent transactions.
