Among those arrested are the gang's kingpin and 10 women, police said. (Representational)
With the arrest of 16 people, the Noida police on Thursday claimed to have busted a fake call centre which, among others, had duped a retired government officer of Rs 1.62 crore on the pretext of getting him Rs 26 lakh of an insurance policy back.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ranvijay Singh said the fake call centre was located in the Bhopura area of the adjoining Ghaziabad district.
Among those arrested are the gang's kingpin and 10 women, who worked at the fake call centre, Mr Singh said, adding that the case has been solved by the Noida Cyber Cell and Sector 113 police station officials.
"On May 21, a retired NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) officer approached the Sector 113 police station with a complaint that he has been duped of Rs 1.62 crore by some people over a period of time," Mr Singh said.
"He had provided us with whatever documents and evidence he had related to the episode, after which a case was lodged and we took up the investigation. We have successfully busted a gang involved in this fraud and arrested 16 people," the police officer told reporters here.
Mr Singh said the gang was operating from Bhopura in the adjoining Ghaziabad district. The gang members had identified themselves as people linked to a bank insurance agency and duped the complainant, who had got a life insurance policy from the HDFC bank six-seven years ago.
"The complainant had paid only one instalment for that policy and not any follow-up instalments. The gang had somehow procured the insurance data and called up the complainant, telling him that Rs 26 lakh are in his account, which can be transferred back to him.
"Over a period of time, the gang duped the complainant of Rs 1.62 crore in instalments of Rs 1 lakh or Rs 2 lakh in the name of getting him his Rs 26 lakh back," Mr Singh said.
The kingpin of the gang, Sonu Kumar, has been arrested. For this particular case, the accused had appointed his aide Neelesh, who had duped the retired NTPC officer, the additional DCP said.
"Sixteen people, including 10 women, have been arrested. All of them had some role to play in the fraud and were aware of what they were doing," he said.