Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The cyber conmen running call centre at Aishbagh have duped over 1200 people across the country during the past three years, revealed police investigations. Afzal Khan, the mastermind of the call centre and his daughter Sahiba were running the call centre for the last three years but Aishbag police remained clueless about it until two of the call centre staff approached them for complaining regarding their unpaid salaries on February 23.
Taking advantage of police negligence in prompt action, the mastermind Afzal and his daughter fled. Police on Friday night registered an FIR against Afzal Khan and his daughter Sahiba, seven days after the raid on the complaint of one of cyber fraud victims Amit Vishwas who arrived from Maharashtra.
Afzal Khan hired telecallers to lure people of hefty returns in online share trading and duped them. He used to give a written script to telecallers who used to call people across the country. Police have seized 87 computers, Paytm machine, mobile phones and 25 SIM cards during the raid. Cyber Crime Cell has also been roped in to investigate and ascertain the total amount duped from cyber fraud victims. It is worth mentioning that police raided Advance Stock Private Limited on February 23.
Police arrested Afzal’s son Amaan but booked him under minor sections and he was granted bail by the court. Investigating officer Pawan Raghuvanshi was attached to police line for showing negligence. Police Commissioner Harinarayanachari Mishra said efforts were underway to identify more persons who have been duped by the accused.
Complainant Amit Vishwas informed police that he received a call from a woman who claimed that her company provides tips for online share trading. Amit was lured of profits and deposited Rs 5500 as membership fee in the given bank account. After initial profits, Amit deposited Rs 40800 in the bank account of the firm. Amit realised he was duped when he did not receive any returns and instead he was asked to deposit more cash.
Afzal opened 50 bank accounts at a small bank through one of his agents of Shajapur. He used details and documents of his employees to open bank accounts which were used for duping bank customers.
Afzal was using a fake online share trading app for receiving investments from cyber fraud victims. The investment was audited by his team and the investor was shown profits online. Afzal has even taken a GST number for his company. Besides Afzal’s daughter Sahiba, her friend Noman and staff Rashid are also a suspect in the case.
The call centre was being run on two floors and Afzal used to pay Rs 1.50 lakh per month as rent to the owner. Around 80 people could work at the call centre. However, only 20 were found working there during the raid. Investigations revealed that Afzal earned several crores only in few years. He owned luxury cars and purchased a costly house in Aishbag Green City. He has also purchased agricultural lands in Tikamgarh in the name of others.
