Gurgaon: A fake call centre operating in Sector 57, allegedly involved in cheating job seekers by promising employment opportunities at Byju’s online learning platform, was busted by the Cyber Crime West police team. Six men have been arrested.
Those arrested include Ravish Kumar, Ankit Kumar, Golu Kumar, Ravikant, Tunar Kumar and Jitendra Kumar. The accused are between 20 and 21 years old. Police said the accused were operating the call centre from a rented accommodation in a PG facility in Tigra village in Sector 57.
Police said the accused were running an organised fraud operation in which fake vacancies for teacher positions were advertised on social media platforms, particularly Facebook. People who responded to the advertisements were allegedly contacted and asked to pay under various pretexts, including registration, selection and verification charges.
The action was taken after investigators received three complaints linked to the call centre from Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The complainants had allegedly been cheated of Rs 54,000, Rs 80,000 and Rs 9,000, respectively. “We contacted the complainants, who stated that they had been defrauded under the pretext of getting jobs with Byju’s,” ACP (cyber crime) Gaurav Fogat said.
This was when the police team conducted a raid at the call centre in the early hours of Friday. A case was subsequently registered at the Cyber Crime West police station under provisions related to cheating and criminal conspiracy of BNS, along with relevant sections of IT Act.
“During interrogation, it was found that Ravish Kumar was allegedly the main accused who coordinated the operation and involved the others in the fraud. The accused prepared scripts to communicate with victims,” the ACP said.
Police said the victims were allegedly asked to transfer money through QR codes provided by Ravish Kumar. “Ravish allegedly distributed 20% to 30% of the amount among his associates as commission,” the ACP added.
During the raid, police seized 15 mobile phones, five ATM cards, several SIM cards, fake Byju’s identity cards and digital evidence, including scripts allegedly used to contact victims.
Police said the accused have been remanded to police custody, adding that they are examining the seized devices and digital records to identify other members of the network and determine the total amount allegedly cheated from victims. “Bank accounts allegedly used in the fraud are being examined. Efforts are underway to identify the source of the accounts, data and other resources used by the network,” an officer said.
This operation highlights the growing menace of cyber fraud targeting job seekers. The accused used sophisticated methods, including fake identity cards and QR code payments, to deceive victims across multiple states. The police continue to investigate to dismantle the entire network and recover the defrauded money.
