NOIDA: Four fake call centres were busted and 10 people, including a woman, were arrested for conning scores of people on the pretext of getting them "lucrative" free gifts through online shopping.The accused offered one among these four items free—Samsung/Sony LED TV 32 inches, Dell/HP laptop, Samsung J7 Prime Smartphone and LG washing machine —on purchase of items over Rs 3,000. They charged 28% GST and a heavy amount as insurance on gift products and added that to the actual purchase amount. However, thousands of buyers were cheated as the accused delivered only the purchased items but not the gifts. The accused were arrested from three call centres in Sector 2 & 3. The police also raided a fourth company—Lift Fashion Company—and found it closed, but sealed its premises.The call centre operatives mostly targeted vulnerable buyers from south India, believing they won't complain to local police.According to police, the accused used to call people and convince them to buy some products worth Rs 3,000 to 5,000 and promised gift items worth Rs 20,000. Though the gifts were free, they charged 28% GST, which comes to Rs 5,600, along with the purchases. The call centre cons then claim the gifts would be insured for Rs 5,000. So the actual amount the buyer had to pay was Rs 5,000+ 5,600+ 5,000 =15,600. The accused accepted payment through Paytm, online banking and also cash on delivery.The ten accused were connected to each other, said police. Though they ran separate call centres, they used the same modus operandi. The masterminds have been identified as Sachin, a resident of New Ashok Nagar in Delhi and Nandan Ram, an original resident of Kaimur in Bihar Sachin operated PPHR Online and ran http://shopkarts.in and displayed a variety of electronic products, artificial jewellery, men's wear, women's wear, home appliances, books and stationary. Nandan Ram operated a website http://fashionondeal.com and also displayed similar items.Police said they had received a complaint in which a victim said he had received a call from a telecaller from PPHR Online in Sector 2. The telecaller promised delivery of artificial jewellery and a free laptop for Rs 27,000. The buyer made the payment but he received only the jewellery worth Rs 3,000.SSP Love Kumar said based on the complaint, the police teams conducted raids in PPHR Online company in Sector 2, and arrested Sachin, Umar, Imran and Komal . The accused told police that similar frauds were operated from another office - Fashion on Deal in the neighbourhood. The police arrested - Nandan Ram, Hemant Patel, Santosh Kumar, Shravan Kumar and Vikram Thakur from there. These accused also told police that they knew a few people who operated another fictitious firm - Trade shop Company in Sector 3. Sonu Kumar, a resident of Aligarh, was arrested from there.The police seized 40 CPUs, 25 desktops, 28 intercoms, 24 keyboards, 1 laptop, 1 pen drive, 6 UPS, 9 artificial jewellery, 9 wrist watches, 2 mobile phones, 4 routers, and Rs 20,000 cash. The accused had been operating these call centres for the past one year. The accused bought most of these items from Noida's Atta Market at economic rates and sold them to buyers at inflated prices. The accused were produced in court and sent to judicial custody.

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