The investigation into the fraud began in February, according to police. (Representational)
Eighteen people of a East of Kailash-based call centre, which operated under the guise of a financial company, were apprehended for allegedly defrauding people after giving them loans at low interest rates through a Chinese mobile application, officials said on Friday.
They would first offer short-term loans at "very low" interest rates through Chinese mobile loan application "Diolesce", and after transferring the amount through it, they would increase the rates, according to the officials.
Borrowers were coerced to repay loans at "exorbitant" interest rates and even after repayment, more money was demanded on the threat that they would be defamed through ways such as posting of morphed photos online, they said.
The officials said 17 employees, including women, have been detained while their team leader Amit, a resident of Sarita Vihar, has been arrested. However, the main accused in the case, Mohsin Khan, and his accomplices are still at large, they said and added that raids are being conducted to catch them.
Probe was started in the matter in February after a complaint was received at the North Delhi Cyber Police Station, the officials said.
The complainant, a resident of Majnu ka Tilla, said a woman called him on his mobile-phone and said his daughter had a taken a loan of Rs 3,500 and he should deposit it through a link sent to him.
The woman threatened that if the amount was not deposited, his daughter's nude photos would be posted online, the officials said quoting the complaint.
The complainant said later, some edited photos of his daughter were sent on his Whatsapp. In one of the photos, it was written "XXXXX one night only 3000" and it also had his and his daughter's phone numbers, the officials said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said during investigation, a detailed technical analysis of call detail records and money trail was carried out.
Surveillance of suspected mobile numbers was done and police zeroed in on a location in Sangam Vihar here, the officer said.
Mr Kalsi said a raid was conducted in Sangam Vihar on Wednesday and a woman, Renu, who was working at the call centre was apprehended.
Based on details provided by her, another raid was conducted at East of Kailash. There a proper call centre was found to be operating with around 50 people, he said.
During interrogation, it was found that half of the employees were working for "prominent" financial companies and under their cover, the others were working through the Chinese loan application, the DCP said.
He said as the accused had control of all data through remote access applications, there was a possibility that some data could have been deleted. Therefore, during the raid, police used extensive technology-based solutions and downloaded the entire live data being run in the system, Mr Kalsi said.
"The team leader at the call centre, Amit, told police that about three years ago, he met Mohsin Khan, who had worked at call centres at various locations in Delhi. Both of them had earlier worked at a call centre for sending loan EMI reminders for Bajaj and IDFC. But due to less salary, they opened a call centre and functioned with the fake Chinese loan recovery application," the officer said.
"Amit was team leader while Khan and his friend Firdaus used to provide the login ID and password for the fake Chinese application. The call centre's employees used to make calls through VOIP sim-box gateway devices installed by Khan, who used to change it frequently to dodge police," he said.
The DCP said payments were made by victims through links provided in the Chinese application and Khan used to get his share.
Police have also recovered 54 computer systems, 19 mobile phones, two internet routers and a server to operate multiple SIM cards on multiple systems.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)