Fraud NGO, fake call centre busted in Noida; 13 arrested

A fraud NGO collecting donations for treatment of the poor and a fake call centre duping people on the pretext of getting them job have been busted here, police said Friday.

Thirteen people, including five women, were held during the police raids Thursday at both the places which were operating from different floors of the same building in Sector 2 area here, they said.

The fraud NGO, We Care Foundation, was operating from the ground floor of the building, while the call centre was active on its first floor," Superintendent of Police (Crime) Ashok Kumar Singh told reporters.

He said the NGO would collect donations apparently to help poor patients and underprivileged children including those suffering from AIDS and physical amputations.

They would even accept donations online and through mobile wallet but did not give receipt to donors, he said.

"The NGO was being run by a man identified as Vikas Goswami. He also had a press card of 'Jigyasa Sansar' and police are verifying its veracity," Singh said.

Goswami along with three associates, Usman Sultan, Danny Singh and Pradeep Shukla, has been arrested, he said.

The fraud NGO had collected Rs 16.31 lakh in donations so far, the SP said, adding that they were probing the case and the amount could go up further.

In the fake call centre, that was active in the first floor of the same building in D-Block, nine accused were arrested while two of their associates are at large, Singh said.

The accused would gather details of people looking for jobs through websites featuring employment opportunities and then call them up with bogus job offers.

"These people had a website -- "http://careerstreet.com" -- and lured jobless people by offering them work in banks such as ICICI and HDFC. They would ask their targets to remit Rs 2,500 in fees for 'modifying resume', then send them fake job offer letters. Once trapped, the victims were then asked to pay for other documentation works and insurance services etc ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000," Singh said.

They would ask them to deposit the money either in their bank account or transfer it using e-wallet, he said.

The kingpin of the fake call centre Sanjeev Bose, who used to gather the data, is absconding with one of his key associates, the officer said.

"Nine people working in the call centre including five women have been arrested," he said, adding search was on for the absconding duo.

The police action which included officials from the Sector 20 police station and the Noida Cyber Cell came on a tip-off from an informer.

"During a spate of similar actions against fake call centres in Noida last month, we had gathered some information and developing on it which led us to this centre and the NGO too," the SP said.

When checked by the police, both the NGO as well as the call centre failed to produce any registration documents, he said.

All accused in the two cases have been booked under Indian Penal Code provisions for fraud, criminal breach of trust, and under charges of the Information Technology Act, the police said. PTI KIS
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