The Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested three people in connection with a fake call centre operating in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, the Hindustan Times reported. The police said Shamkant Sharma, Vivek Sharma and Ashukumar Singh cheated at least 80 people of lakhs of rupees over last six months.

Suraj Abhimanuy Muke, a PhD student based in Mumbai, had reported the crime after he was allegedly cheated of Rs 91,500. The police said 10 accused, who operated out of an apartment in Ghaziabad, would call people and offer them personal loans and then give them an account number to deposit the processing fees and other taxes.

“Muke was asked to share his personal details and documents on an email ID, cityfinance@gmail.com,” said senior police inspector BM Kakad. “He was asked to deposit the processing fees, documentation charges, fixed deposit of 5%, 8% on GST, and then send some cash.”

After Muke reported the crime to the police, they traced the contact numbers and the account number to Vasundhara in Ghaziabad.

“We laid a trap at an ATM in Vasudhara,” Sub-inspector Maruti Shelke said. “On the eighth day, Shamkant Sharma came to withdraw cash. He led to us to two other accused.” The police have seized 17 cellphones, one laptop, 22 debit cards and two hard disks.