New Delhi, Aug 3 (PTI) Thirteen persons, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly operating a fake international call centre to dupe non-resident Indians by impersonating as police or government officials, police said.

The call centre was operational in Okhla and based on a tip-off, a police team raided the location on August 1, they said.

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Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Esha Pandey said, "We received information regarding a fake international call centre, which was in operation at Okhla, Delhi. During the raid, the team found a group of persons who were busy in communicating with Indians living abroad. The team arrested all of them."

Police said that 20 mobile phones, 11 computer sets, 10 headphones and a Wi-Fi router were seized from the spot.

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"During interrogation, accused persons disclosed that they used to communicate with the non-resident Indians (NRIs) to dupe them by impersonating as police and government officials of that respective country. They used to tell them that their national identity number has been found involved in criminal activities and if they wanted to get acquitted from those criminal charges, they would have to pay a certain amount as fine," Pandey said.

The victims used to pay them through online gift cards to emancipate themselves from such fake charges, she added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)