A team from New Jalpaiguri police station under the Siliguri Metropolitan Police busted an illegal call centre operating in Shaktigarh area here on Wednesday and arrested six women.

Police said the accused were running the call centre in the guise of a “friendship club” and are suspected to be fleecing people.

“We acted on specific information and conducted the raid in a building at Kathaltala in Shaktigarh. It was found that they are running an illegal call centre,” said a police officer.

During the past few months, the police here have launched a crackdown on such call centres.

A number of such places have been raided by police and arrests have been made.

Police sources said that in the past two to three months five to six raids have been conducted and around 20-25 people arrested for duping people through such rackets.

“Our officers are investigating the case and trying to find out how they used to cheat people. Earlier, we have found that calls were made to people in the name of a friendship club and gradually, money was collected or stolen through various means from them,” the officer added.

Those arrested are residents of different areas of Siliguri, the police said.

A number of cellphones and laptops have been seized during the raid.

“We suspect more people are involved in the racket. We are trying to identify them and such raids will continue,” said a police source.