Mumbai, Aug 12 (PTI) The crime branch of the Mumbai police have busted a fake call centre from where a gang duped people from Canada and across India on the pretext of offering cheap tour and travel packages, an official said on Saturday.

The police have arrested 12 people and seized 28 laptops and 40 mobile phones from the bogus call centre that was operating from a commercial building at Marol in the western suburb of Andheri, the official said.

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The police are yet to ascertain the number of victims in the case and the money they lost to the gang, the official said.

Acting on reliable information, the crime branch on Friday raided the call centre, which was being run at Mittal building at Marol in Andheri, and found 12 men and a woman working there.

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Citing the probe, the official said that the gang would place advertisements on social media offering tour and travel packages at much cheaper rates. Once a victim showed interest and made inquiries, they would shift the entire communication to WhatsApp.

In the name of ticket and other bookings, the gang members would collect money from their victims. They would also send fake air tickets and payment receipts to the victims on WhatsApp to gain their confidence, the official said.

However, after extracting money, the gang members would block the victims' numbers or change their numbers, the official said.

Following the raid on Friday, the crime branch seized 28 laptops, 40 mobile phones, two routers and some documents, the official said.

While the 12 men were taken into custody, the woman was allowed to go after being served a notice to remain present before the police whenever required.

A case has been registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act. Further investigation is underway, the official 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)