Fake airline jobs, fake insurance payouts: Noida police bust call centres targeting job seekers

Noida Police have arrested four people after busting two fraudulent call centres that allegedly cheated job seekers and insurance policyholders by promising airline jobs, insurance maturity payouts, and other financial services. The action was taken following complaints received through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), officials said.

One fake call centre was operating from Sector 2, where the accused allegedly lured unemployed youth with promises of jobs as ground staff and support staff in private airlines, according to Hindustan Times. Victims were asked to pay "processing" and registration fees after being sent forged appointment letters, following which the fraudsters would stop responding. More than 15 complaints from different states have already been linked to the racket through the NCRP portal.

In a separate operation, another call centre was busted in Sector 6, where the accused allegedly targeted people by offering fake insurance policy maturity benefits, credit cards, debit cards, loans, and other financial services. Police said there were 25 NCRP complaints linked to the two fraudulent operations.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Manisha Singh said the investigation began after multiple cyber fraud complaints were received.

"One call centre, located in Sector 2, promised jobs as ground and support staff with private airlines and collected 'processing' fees from jobseekers. The other call centre, operating from Sector 6, was cheating people by offering insurance claims, credit cards, debit cards and other financial services. There were 25 NCRP complaints against both these portals," Singh said.

Police arrested two men aged around 32, one from Ghaziabad and another from Delhi, from the Sector 6 call centre. During the raid, officials seized a laptop, three keypad mobile phones, one smartphone, 17 ATM cards, and a cheque book. Investigators said the suspects regularly destroyed mobile phones and SIM cards and deleted chats to erase digital evidence, according to Hindustan Times.

From the Sector 2 operation, police arrested two suspects aged 28 and 26, residents of Noida's Sectors 31 and 37, respectively. The accused allegedly sourced job seekers' contact details from online employment portals before contacting them with fake airline recruitment offers. Police recovered two computers, five keypad mobile phones, three smartphones, a pen drive, and five SIM cards during the raid.

Speaking about the investigation, ADCP Manisha Singh said the accused are suspected of cheating victims of lakhs of rupees through multiple bank accounts.

"These individuals have been operating fraudulently from various locations and engaging in cyber fraud. We suspect they defrauded people of lakhs of rupees through multiple bank accounts. All identified bank accounts will be frozen, and action will be taken against any other individuals found to be involved during the investigation," Singh said.

Police have registered cases under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), and 340(2) (using forged documents as genuine), along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, and further investigations are underway to identify additional victims and accomplices.