35-year-old woman nabbed in Noida for manipulating officials with call spoofing

NOIDA: A 35-year-old woman, a resident of Meerut, was arrested by the Noida police for allegedly engaging in “call spoofing” to manipulate unsuspecting individuals into complying with her demands.

The woman was arrested after she used two software applications to make fraudulent calls to senior Noida police officials and other individuals.

According to the police, the arrested woman has been identified as Zoya Khan. “Khan used two software programmes — while Portsip changed her caller ID so the receiver thinks they are getting a call from a known person, Magicall changed her voice over the call,” said Central Noida deputy commissioner of police Shakti Mohan Avasthy.

Khan, who has a criminal history, has been imprisoned twice before for impersonating officials from various ministries and agencies and demanding police escort services.

“Khan was a UPSC aspirant but wanted to take advantage of the call spoofing trend. She was sent to jail in 2019 and 2023,” the DCP added.

Police explained that spoofing calls involve manipulating the caller ID to make it appear as though the call is coming from a trusted source.

This deceives the recipient into believing they are speaking to the real owner of the displayed number when, in fact, it is a scammer.

In September, Khan and Gaurav Agarwal, a resident of Delhi, were arrested for obtaining closed user group numbers of senior police officials and making calls to officers and complainants involved in a case related to Agarwal’s family.

Khan admitted, “Agarwal’s relative Sahil Sabharwal had died after falling from a seventh-floor apartment. A woman named Neha was accused in the case. I used Portsip to pose as senior officials and pressure the officers in the case to arrest the accused.” The calls were routed through a server located in Dubai.

Following the investigation, the police charged Khan and Agarwal under BNS Section 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and Section 66D (cheating by personation) of the IT Act.