An unauthorized call centre operating near Hulimavu police station was raided on Friday, leading to the arrest of two individuals — Jithendra Kumar, also known as Jithu, and his partner Chandan Kumar. The centre, involved in cybercrime and fraudulent stock trading, had been running for over a year and was operating under the guise of a legitimate business named ‘Fenix Interiors’.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team, supervised by DCP (south-east) Sarah Fathima and led by Inspector BG Kumaraswamy, raided the call centre on Bannerghatta Road. The police found 15 employees, including 7 women, working at the centre. A case has been registered under Sections 318 (cheating), 112 (petty organized crime), and the Information Technology and Digital Personal Data Protection Acts.
Jithu, an engineering graduate from Bihar, had opened similar offices in three other states, changing locations after defrauding a significant number of people in each state. The centre was equipped with 36 mobile phones, five laptops, five computers, and other devices, all of which were seized by the police.
Jithu had acquired data of approximately 9,000 people with demat accounts, which he purchased through the dark web for Rs3,000. Despite lacking a SEBI license, he trained his employees to monitor stock market trends and call demat account holders with stock tips. The employees would encourage investors to buy stocks, taking a 30% commission on any profits made. While most investors lost money due to poor guidance, a few made a profit and paid the commission. Jithu took a 15% cut of the money paid by investors, while the rest went to the employees.
The authorities are also investigating Jithu’s financial records, suspecting that the money earned from the scam was far more than the Rs18 lakh he claimed to have made. The call centre was clearly a case of data theft, with Jithu replacing SIM cards whenever investors raised concerns over their losses.