Noida: Five individuals were arrested on Friday for allegedly operating a fake call centre in Sector 2 and scamming people by offering low-interest loans and collecting processing fees without ever disbursing any amount, police said on Saturday.A case has been registered under Section 318(4) (cheating) of BNS and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act. (Photo for representation)Police added that the five suspects include three men, aged 23, 24 and 33, and two women, aged 27 and 35, all residents of Noida. Police also seized five mobile phones, three laptops, a passbook and six cheque books during the raid.“The suspects were defrauding people on the pretext of providing affordable loans. Preliminary enquiry suggests they opened the call centre around two months ago,” said Manisha Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), Noida.According to police, the exact number of people cheated is still being determined, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds. Police suspect the total amount involved is in crores.Officials said efforts are underway to freeze the bank accounts allegedly used in the fraud and obtain details of financial transactions.“Ten complaints linked to the suspects’ bank accounts and mobile numbers had been filed on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) portal. A in-depth investigation is underway to gather information about their modus operandi, how long they have been operating, and their locations,” ADCP Singh added.According to police, the alleged racket involved around 10 to 15 people who procured contact details of individuals looking for loans.Victims were initially asked to pay a processing fee and were later told their loan file had been approved. The suspects would then cite deficiencies in the application and demand additional payments. The cycle allegedly continued until the victim realised they had been cheated, following which the suspects would block the victim’s number and target others.A case has been registered under Section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act. Further investigation is underway, police said.In a separate case, cybercrime police arrested two individuals for allegedly cheating people out of approximately ₹15.5 lakh by falsely promising to install solar energy panels from reputed companies at low prices, police said.They added that the suspects allegedly collected advance payments without ever rendering the promised services. They reportedly operated offices at different locations across Noida and NCR to carry out the fraud.Police said eight complaints have been registered against them in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Delhi and Rajasthan.A case has been registered under sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 238(C) (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen an offender), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS, along with Section 66D of the IT Act, added police.