Gurugram Police appeal to public not to Google search Customer Care Numbers
Fake call centre busted in Palam Vihar area, 3 arrested
Fake call centre busted in Palam Vihar area, 3 arrested
New Delhi, June 17 (Delhi Crown): The Gurugram Police have appealed to the general public not to search for Customer Care Numbers of any company on Google, and instead find it on the companies’ (particularly banks and home appliances’ companies) official websites.
The Police’s appeal assumes significance in the wake of arrest of several persons operating fake call centres duping many of lakhs of Rupees. Generally, such persons running fake call centres post their own phone numbers on Google and other search engines.
Innocent people fall in their trap while searching for banks and/or home appliance companies’ Customer Care Numbers. They end up dialling these fake call centres’ numbers and lose money after coming into contact with their employees on phone.
One such fake call centre was busted by the Gurugram Police in Palam Vihar area on Thursday (June 16), in which three accused – as Mukal (call center owner) Sameer and Tushar were nabbed. They used to allegedly cheat foreign nationals on the pretext of providing them “technical assistance”.
Subsequently, an FIR u/s Section 420, 120B IPC 66D, 75 IT Act. was registered at Gurugram’s Cyber Crime Police Station.
On interrogation, the trio revealed to the Gurugram Police that they used to send fake emails to foreign nationals using the name of different companies.
The emails contained a fake customer service centre number. When people called on that number, it used to route to this fake call centre, and the accused persons posed as employees of the company to extort money fraudulently from customers through gift vouchers on pretext of providing technical support.
Several laptops, mobile phones used in the crime and Rs 30000 cash were recovered from their possession.
In an appeal made to the general public, the Gurugram Police stated – “Do not search the number of any customer service centres on Google or any other search engine. Get the number of the customer service centres only from the official website of the company. Beware of the fake emails you receive related to customer services and do not contact on the numbers shown in these fake emails. If any person tries to collect your personal or financial information in the name of Customer Service Centre, then do not provide any such information to them and immediately contact the local Cyber Crime Branch or the concerned police station.”
