In a significant breakthrough, Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested 18 cybercriminals, including employees of call centres in Delhi and Gurugram, for running a nationwide financial crime syndicate that targeted State Bank of India (SBI) credit card holders, officials said on Saturday.
The masterminds—Ankit Rathi, Waseem, and Vishal Bhardwaj—were identified as the orchestrators, strategists, and account handlers behind this white-collar crime, said Vinit Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Cell’s Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit.
The syndicate’s fraudulent activities stretched across multiple states, resulting in financial losses estimated at Rs2.6 crore.
“This operation sets a blueprint for dismantling cybercrime syndicates proactively,” said DCP Kumar.
Over a six-month investigation, police seized 52 mobile phones, multiple SIM cards, and customers’ bank details from the syndicate. The investigation uncovered involvement of insiders from the Teleperformance call centre in Gurugram, where employees like Vishesh Lahori (alias Paji) and Durgesh Dhakad acted as data brokers, leaking sensitive customer information.
Members of the syndicate impersonated SBI customer care executives to deceitfully obtain One-Time Passwords (OTPs) and Card Verification Values (CVVs) from victims. These credentials were used to purchase electronic gift cards from travel booking platforms, which were then utilized to buy domestic air tickets, explained DCP Kumar.
Field operatives conducting phishing calls and targeting victims included Rahul Vishwakarma, Pawan Bisht, Kailash Purohit (alias Kabir), Himanshu Chugh (alias Babu), and Ravin Saini.
Finance handlers, responsible for converting the proceeds into cryptocurrency or cash and laundering gift cards, were identified as Akhilesh Lakhotia and Harsh Chauhan. The syndicate was supplied with multiple SIM cards by Shivam Sehrawat, also arrested.
The investigation exposed a severe data breach at Teleperformance Gurugram, where employees had been systematically leaking sensitive banking data since 2019, raising serious concerns about the company’s security protocols.
Given Teleperformance’s role in handling critical data of major Indian banks, this breach poses a significant financial risk and highlights vulnerabilities that facilitated widespread cyber financial frauds.
