According to the police, more than 500 person were duped of over Rs 2.5 crore. The accused persons used fake SIM cards issued in the name of foreigners for cheating.

The cyber crime unit of Delhi Police became active after it received a complaint in which the complainant said that when he was trying to avail a personal loan online, he came across a contact number supposed to be of Reliance Capital.

When he contacted the number, the person(s) on the other side promised him personal loan at a lucrative rate of interest and then, on one pretext or another, induced him to deposit more than Rs 2 lakh in various bank accounts. They even sent him an email from one ID that looked deceptively similar to that of Reliance Capital.

"After technical surveillance, the telecom company's sales promoter, Pawan Mittal, who had activated the fake SIM cards used in the offence, was arrested and the entire chain was established. This led to the arrest of all the accused persons involved in the offence, including the mastermind Md Irfan Saifi, who was running the fake call centre from Vikas Nagar," said Anyesh Roy, DCP, Cyber Cell.

On interrogation, the main accused Md Irfan Saifi disclosed that he used to work as a telecaller for an insurance company a few years ago. There he came in contact with some persons who introduced him to the world of fake call centres.

He first established a fake call centre in Tilak Nagar area and then switched to the Vikas Nagar a few months ago. Irfan and his associates would post ads on various platforms offering loan in the name of Reliance Capital and when contacted, they would induce the victim to first deposit money in the name of processing fees, GST etc.

In order to win the trust of the victim, they would even send him mails from an ID that looked deceptively similar to that of Reliance Capital. Once the victim deposited the money, they would block his number or switch off their phones.

"Accused Pawan Mittal was working as a third party promoter for Vodafone for several months. He used fake documents and photographs of foreigners to activate the fake SIM cards that were used for contacting the victims," the officer said.