Cops bust illegal call centre at Mira Road
The police said that the accused had cheated the department of telecommunication (DoT) to the tune of several lakhs.
Mumbai: The Thane rural police Monday busted an illegal call centre at Mira Road which was using prohibited software and providing illegal overseas calling facility. The police said that the accused had cheated the department of telecommunication (DoT) to the tune of several lakhs.
Acting on specific information received, the police raided the call centre that was functioning out of CR Arcade, Mira village, Mira Road. Several callers and lower-level employees were detained at the spot.
“When we asked for legal clearance on the software being used in the business and permissions from the DoT, the operators stated that they had not sought clearances,” said an officer from Mira Road police station, which is probing into the case.
The call centre was being used for allowing inbound calling facility along with Internet calling via Open Settlement Protocol (OSP) which is prohibited. This was in gross violation of the rules laid down by the DoT, informed officials.
The officials have seized routers, computers and other gadgets and databases from the call centre, which were used in making the illegal calls. The investigators said that they were now on the lookout for the main operators and owners of the call centre.
The gadgets will be sent for forensic analysis for retrieving the data of the callers, which will also help ascertain the exact time when the illegal facility was set up. The DoT has incurred losses worth several lakhs as per the preliminary investigation. The officials will also look into the nature of calls that were facilitated by the call centre.
A case has been registered against the accused with the Mira Road police station under sections of the Indian Telegraph Act and Indian Penal Code and further investigation is underway.
Another case
In August too, the Thane rural police had busted an illegal call centre, and arrested seven persons who had been allegedly duping foreign nationals by claiming that their tax payments were outstanding. The accused would get the money deposited in bank accounts operated by them and divert fraud money into buying bitcoins.