Surat: A city woman’s quest to lose weight cost her Rs 1.77 crore and exposed what police say was a massive multi-crore fraud operating from a Gurugram call centre. Cyber Crime police raided the facility, arrested four people and uncovered evidence suggesting the racket may have cheated victims of over Rs 80 crore over four years.The scam, operating under the name “Curest Science and Wellness”, was busted after a 50-year-old woman reported being cheated of Rs 1.77 crore. Investigators said the accused were demanding another Rs 81 lakh for a fresh consignment of medicines when police laid a trap and made the arrests.Additional commissioner of police Karanraj Vaghela of Surat crime branch told TOI, “A 50-year-old woman contacted Cyber Crime police saying she had been cheated of Rs 1.77 crore through a weight-loss programme and that the accused were demanding another Rs 81 lakh for the next consignment of medicines.“In Jan, she came across a Facebook advertisement for Curest Science and Wellness, offering a scientific weight-loss programme. On clicking it, she was redirected to WhatsApp and was subsequently contacted by the firm’s employees.”Police said the woman was initially assessed by company representatives and later connected to one Dr M K Khanna.“The accused trapped the woman by assuring her of weight loss and creating her profile. They kept sending parcels and collecting money. From Feb to May, they sent 14 parcels of purported medicines and took Rs 1.77 crore from her. They demanded Rs 81 lakh for the final parcel, saying her profiling would be complete. When they kept pressuring her for payment, she approached police,” Vaghela said.Police then instructed the woman to ask for delivery of the next parcel. When a man arrived to collect the payment and deliver the package, officers waiting inside the house detained him.During interrogation, the suspect, who introduced himself as Rahul Raj, was later identified as Mohammad Hussain Murtuza (26).“Murtuza’s interrogation led us to Gurugram, where we raided the call centre. A woman identified to the victim as Tanvi Sharma was found to be Hena Mandal (21), while another employee introduced as Priya Gupta was identified as Nisha Kumari Bharti (22). We arrested Om Prakash Rajak (24), who had delivered parcels and collected money from the victim,” Vaghela said.Police registered an FIR in Surat, while Gurugram police lodged a separate case. The directors of the company, Amit Gaurav and Pankaj Sharma, are absconding.Call centre ran for 4 yearsPolice said the call centre had been operating since 2021. Officers found more than 150 women and 20 men working at it.Investigators found transactions worth Rs 8.30 crore in one company bank account over the past four years. Documents seized indicated that employees were assigned monthly collection targets of up to Rs 2 crore, leading police to suspect that the sum defrauded may exceed Rs 80 crore.Police also found four complaints linked to the company on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. After the Surat raid, Gurugram police registered a separate FIR and launched their own investigation.Woman pawned jewellery, couriers flew in from DelhiThe complainant, a homemaker, allegedly paid the accused through 14 separate transactions. Police said the initial consignments of medicines cost between Rs 5,000 and Rs 40,000, but the amounts escalated over time. Between March and May, the accused sent couriers from Delhi to Surat by air to collect payments and deliver medicine parcels.According to investigators, the woman paid sums ranging from Rs 4.15 lakh to Rs 52.65 lakh for consignments. As her funds ran dry, she pawned jewellery and borrowed from relatives to keep making payments. Police said the medicines and supplements supplied by the accused appear to be spurious and were seized during the raid.
