Police personnel wait outside the office of the call centre. (Photo: AFP)

A view of the vacant office after 126 employees were

. (PTI photo)

(Photo: AFP)

How they cheated

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NOIDA: Two months into raids prompted by American and Canadian concern about a large number of cyber frauds in the two countries originating in NCR, police on Friday uncovered their biggest such sham operation in Noida yet.The raid, which followed a tip-off from America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and lasted 17 hours, led to the arrest of 126 people from a commercial building (E18) in Noida’s Sector 163 that the scamsters had rented fully (all four floors).AFP photo.The duo behind this bogus call centre, police said, are two Gurgaon residents — Narendra Pahuja and Jimmy Ashija. They initially ran this call centre from Gurgaon but shifted to Noida six months ago. Police said they were planning to shift base again, after raids on similar operation in the city since October. Pahuja and Ashija are absconding. The mastermind — Pahuja and Shija’s boss who police have not yet named — allegedly runs at least five such call centres in Delhi-NCR.Hundreds of calls went out to American shores from here every day, each one threatening the respondent with arrest because of an irregularity in the social security number. The ones who fell for the trap — and there were many considering the call centre had managed to pocket Rs 8 crore already, according to police — bought iTunes or Google Play gift cards, as instructed, and shared the secret code with the caller.Under various ruses, this has been a standard operating procedure for call centre cons, who have sometimes offered tax breaks, sometimes insurance and sometimes holidays. Only the last racket, also targeting people in multiple countries, including the US, to be unearthed had used a different modus operandi — it sent pop-up virus alerts to computer users, then called them pretending to be Microsoft troubleshooters and offered to fix the problem for a fee. On November 29 and 30, police in Gurgaon and Noida had made 31 arrests in raids at various call centres that perpetrated this fraud The Noida operation busted on Friday ran a full-fledged BPO shift, from 7pm-5am, and followed standard call centre protocols with accent training and team leaders (4 in all, all of whom were arrested). Most of their employees are from the northeast. They were hired because they were seen as better English speakers with an accent that matched the call centre’s needs, police said. Of the 126 arrested, eight are women. They had associates in the US, China and Dubai, who helped them siphon the cash from the cards, police said.The masterminds managed to get hold of a database of social security numbers of people in the US. It’s not yet known if they are former BPO workers, as has been the case with most ringleaders of bogus operations who use the knowhow to cheat people.This raid began at 10pm on Thursday and ended around 3pm on Friday. Police moved in with a team of 17 cops after staking out the place for 20 days. They seized 312 workstations, recordings of conversations between the callers and the victims and Rs 20 lakh in cash. The office had been decked up for Christmas celebrations.Noida police chief Ajay Pal Sharma told TOI the callers would claim to be from the social security administration and warn victims there was a problem with their nine-digit number. “The callers would ask for money up to $3,500, with the mode for transfer of money being Play Store gift cards and iTunes cards,’ Sharma said. “The caller asked for the secret code of the cards and sent them to the team leader, who in turn give the code to the owner. From there, it was passed on to people in the US, China and Dubai to encash the amount. The money was sent to various accounts of Pahuja and Ashija.”Sharma said Pahuja and Ashija give the data to the callers through email. “Police are investigating how these people got the data of the victims,” he said. Since October, around 200 people have been arrested in Noida and scores of fake call centres busted. Four of the major ones that have been shut down operated from Sector 63.iTunes gift card scams have been so frequent that Apple has put out a note in the support section of its website, explaining that iTunes card can only be redeemed only at the Apple Online Store or Apple Retail Stores, and advising customers to report to law enforcement agencies if anyone asked them to use the card for any other payment.Hi, I am X (caller). I am calling from the social security administrationYesThere is a problem with your social security number. So, you have to fix it or we will issue an arrest warrant against youHow can I fix it?You have to buy a Play Store or iTunes card worth … (says an amount)Okay, I will. Call me after sometimeSir, have you purchased the card?Yes, I havePlease share the secret code to help me facilitate your tax reductionRespondent shares the secret codeCaller passes the code to the team leader. The amount is encashedCaller goes incommunicado