Fake call centre in Mumbai harasses friends & family of credit card defaulters, six booked

Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch busted a bogus call centre operating out of Goregaon West, where tele-callers were using illegal methods to recover dues from credit card defaulters. Police said the tele-callers were using an app that gave them access to contact numbers of friends and relatives of the defaulters. The tele-callers would then dial them and harass them to put pressure on the defaulters to pay up.

An FIR has been registered at the Bangur Nagar police station against six people, including the owner of the bogus call centre, the director of operations, the IT team, a female manager and the team leader of the tele-callers.

A team from unit 12 of the crime branch raided the establishment on the second floor of a Goregaon mall on June 10. After entering the establishment, police found 15 tele-callers, their team leader and a female manager. There were 18 computers and a laptop placed on wooden tables. The manager was quizzed whether a licence or permissions were taken for the call centre, but she could not come up with satisfactory responses.

The team leader informed the police that their head office was located at Teen Haat Naka in Thane and their servers were placed there. He explained that they worked on recovery of dues for two credit card providers. Through an app , they were able to access the defaulters’ details, including their names, addresses,, credit card numbers, age, alternate contact number etc. Tele-callers would contact defaulters using this information and harass them to pay up.

Further, the IT team working for the call centre provided them with IP addresses and an app through which they could illegally access contact details of relatives and friends of the defaulters. The tele-callers then dial the friends and relatives and put pressure on them to get the defaulters to pay up.

Crime branch seized equipment from the fake call centre and summoned some of them for further questioning to the crime branch office. The director of operations visited the crime branch and explained that the space for the establishment was taken on lease. Police detained the director of operations and the team leader. A notice was served to the female team leader.