The Cyber Crime Police Station, West Zone, Chennai has busted a call centre which was operated at Teynampet for allegedly siphoning off money from many under the pretext of facilitating for insurance. Two main accused were arrested in connection with this fraud. 

Police said on April 29, Ramanathan, 65 of Arumbakkam received a call from an unknown person and offered to close his insurance policy for ₹18.64 lakh held with a private firm and redeem it. The caller promised that Ramanathan would get ₹4.20 crore if he would reinvest the redeemed amount in policies of other firms. As per instruction of the caller, Ramanathan closed the policy and transferred the amount for investing in other insurance firms. But Ramanathan did not get any policy document and hence he grew suspicious and lodged a complaint with the police. 

Similarly, the Inspector of Police, Cyber Crime Police, West Zone, Shanthi Devi received a call from a woman who claimed that she was from HDFC, Tambaram. The caller told the inspector that her policy amount ₹2.85 lakh would mature shortly, and she was required to pay further. The caller sent a link and asked her to pay ₹15,000 plus GST in addition to sharing Aadhar card, bank details and passport size photos. The woman inspector who had no such policy grew suspicious and analysed the call records. The inspector after thorough investigation found that the call originated from JVL Plaza in Rangoon Street. 

The officer went to the place and a call centre without a name board was functioning at the said premises. At least 50 staff were working there. Police arrested Munir Hussain, 36 who ran the centre and Ashokan, manager of the centre for indulging in online frauds. Munir had already been arrested by the Central Crime Branch in 2020 for cyber fraud, said police. 

City Police Commissioner A.Arun appreciated the police team who busted the call centre.