Amritsar, September 21: Amritsar police on September 15 busted a fake call centre that allegedly duped customers across the country by selling high-quality replicas of premium smartphones through online scams. More than 80 women were employed at the centre to lure buyers with attractive offers on OLX, officials said.
Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the accused used images of iPhones and Samsung S24 devices to convince customers they were getting premium phones at throwaway prices. “Each handset priced over ₹1 lakh by the respective manufacturing firm was being offered for ₹15,000 to ₹20,000. The gang managed to sell 30–40 fake phones daily, generating nearly ₹6 lakh in illicit turnover every day,” he said.
During the raid, police recovered 47 mobile phones, including 29 with active SIM cards, eight additional SIMs and six laptops, which were allegedly used in the fraudulent operations.
The key accused, Raghav Bhardwaj of Pawan Nagar, Batala Road, Amritsar, has been arrested. His two associates — Ankit Gangotra of Vijay Nagar and Gautam Thakur of Batala Road — are on the run. An FIR has been registered at the cybercrime police station.
