Surat: The Surat Cyber Crime Branch has busted a major nationwide online fraud racket and a high-tech call centre run from Gurugram. The gang, which duped women of crores of rupees through misleading weight-loss advertisements on Facebook, allegedly cheated a housewife from Surat of ₹1.77 crore in five months. Four accused, including two women, have been arrested in a trap operation by the Surat Police, while the company’s main masterminds are still absconding.

According to the police, a high-tech call centre with more than 150 employees was being operated from a grand office in the industrial area of Gurugram, Haryana, under the name of CUREST SCIENCE & WELLNESS PRIVATE LIMITED. From there, women across the country were targeted through weight-loss advertisements on Facebook. As soon as women clicked on the advertisement and shared their mobile numbers, telecallers contacted them and gained their confidence using the company’s website and false medical protocols.

According to the complaint, the woman came across a weight-loss advertisement on Facebook in January and shared her mobile number after clicking on it. The fraudsters then moved the conversation to WhatsApp, where they convinced her to buy a series of weight-loss medicines. Police said a delivery agent collected cash from her doorstep each time the medicines were delivered. Over the next few months, she continued making payments, eventually losing ₹1.77 crore before realising she had fallen victim to a fraud and refusing to make any further payments.

According to the police, the gang collected most of the money in cash to avoid bank transactions. From January 26 to May 2026, more than ₹1.77 crore was collected from the housewife in Surat, of which only ₹15,000 was paid online. The remaining amount was collected in cash from the woman’s house through a courier arriving by flight from Delhi.

Even after collecting crores of rupees, the gang allegedly demanded another ₹81.50 lakh from the victim. The accused started blackmailing her by threatening to close her medical file, warning of side effects from the medicines, and claiming she would lose all the money she had already spent. Fed up with the constant mental harassment, the woman finally approached the Surat Cyber Crime Police.

Under the guidance of Additional Police Commissioner Dr. Karanrajsinh Vaghela, the Surat Cyber Crime team laid a trap after the victim agreed to pay ₹81 lakh. Mohammad Hussain alias Rahul Raj, who had come from Delhi to deliver medicines and collect cash, was caught red-handed in Surat. Based on his interrogation, the Surat Police team, with the help of the local police, raided the call centre in Gurugram and arrested the main telecaller, Heena, and Nisha Kumari, along with other accused.

During the raid, police seized laptops, mobile phones, a large quantity of fake medicines, and other digital evidence. The investigation revealed that the company was registered in 2021 and had been running the fraud racket since 2022. Transactions worth around ₹8.30 crore were found in the company’s bank account, while cash transactions are suspected to have exceeded ₹80 crore. Police said the accused also confessed during interrogation to collecting cash worth ₹1.5 crore to ₹2 crore every month.

Police have arrested Mohammad Hussain alias Rahul Raj, Heena, Nisha Kumari, and Om Prakash in connection with the case. The company’s director, Amit Gaurav, Chief Administration Officer Pankaj Sharma, and manager Deepak are still absconding. During the investigation, it also came to light that similar fraud complaints had already been registered against the company on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) in Delhi and Rajasthan. A separate case has also been registered against the company in Gurugram under various sections of the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Surat Police has appealed to the public to be wary of attractive advertisements on social media related to weight loss, slimming, or other health-related matters. Police said that if any unknown person demands a large amount of money over the phone, especially in cash, it is highly likely to be a fraud. In such cases, people have been urged to immediately contact the Cyber Crime Helpline at 1930 or the nearest cyber police station. DeshGujarat