Haryana Police dismantled a fake international call centre in Panchkula, arresting 21 individuals involved in a sophisticated scam targeting US citizens by impersonating e-commerce company employees.
Key Points
- Haryana Police busted a fake international call centre in Panchkula, arresting 21 individuals.
- The call centre employees posed as customer service representatives of a leading e-commerce company to defraud US citizens.
- The scammers gained access to victims' computer systems using remote access applications and tricked them into purchasing gift cards.
- Police seized computer systems, laptops, cash, and jewellery during the raid, indicating significant financial gains from the scam.
- The illicit earnings were channelled through 'hawala' networks and cryptocurrency platforms.
Haryana Police has busted a fake international call centre in Panchkula, which was engaged in defrauding US citizens by posing as employees of a leading e-commerce company.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint raid was conducted by the cyber crime police station, the state cyber team, and Haryana Police in Sector-2, Panchkula, on Monday night, leading to the arrest of 21 individuals, including four masterminds of the racket, police said.
Key Accused Remanded To Police Custody
The four key accused were produced before a local court on Tuesday, which remanded them to seven-day police custody.
Police said the investigation revealed that the accused received calls via a specific software and lured people into their trap by identifying themselves as customer service representatives of a leading e-commerce company.
Modus Operandi Of The E-Commerce Scam
After obtaining personal information from the victims, they would instruct them to download remote access applications to gain access to the victims' computer systems, and then mislead them into purchasing gift cards. Subsequently, these gift cards were redeemed through various channels to generate financial gains, police said.
According to DCP (Crime and Traffic) Amrinder Singh, police seized 19 computer systems, three laptops, 16 headsets, two point of sale machines, three walkie-talkie sets, two Wi-Fi routers, one currency counting machine, a hardware crypto wallet, Rs 11.30 lakh in cash, counterfeit foreign currency, gold jewelry, diamond studs, chains, bracelets, and other documents and electronic devices during the raid.
Illicit Funds Transferred Via Hawala And Crypto
Preliminary investigation revealed that the illicit earnings were being channelled into various states through a 'hawala' network and cryptocurrency platforms.
The four key accused have been identified as Raja Siddiqui, Akshay alias Tikku, Navdeep Bedi alias Raj Bedi and Ankur Kapoor, hailing from Kolkata, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana, respectively.
The other arrested individuals include five women and 12 men, who were employed as computer operators. All of them have been released on bail, police said.
Acting on the leads provided by the accused, police are preparing to conduct raids in other states, and more arrests are likely in the case, the DCP said.
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