The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced on Friday, July 25, 2025, that it had arrested three members of a sophisticated cybercrime gang that reportedly used VoIP spoofing and phishing calls to scam overseas victims, mostly Americans, out of approximately ₹3–4 crore.
The agency raided seven locations in Pune and Mumbai as part of a broad crackdown that started on Thursday, July 24, 2025, and ended on Friday, July 25, 2025.
The detectives claimed to have found more than 150 grams of suspected drugs in addition to digital devices.
According to them, the bust also turned up ₹1.60 lakh in mysterious cash and incriminating digital evidence from 27 cell phones and 17 laptops.
Amit Dube, Tarun Shenai, and Gonsalves Savio were taken into custody by the agency and brought before a special CBI court in Mumbai. The court remanded them to the agency’s custody till July 30 so that they could be questioned further about their operations and co-accused.
An examination of the accused’s mobile phone showed that he had ₹6.94 lakh worth of cryptocurrencies in his wallet. According to a statement from the agency, ₹9.60 lakh in unexplained cash was found during a search at the home of another accused.
Since January 2025, the syndicate has been running a legitimate call center out of different apartments in Pune, using VoIP spoofing and phishing calls to target victims overseas.
Cash payments to call center employees are made through hawala routes from both domestic regions, such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, as well as from the United States. According to the spokeswoman, these employees were spread across Pune in a number of residential apartments.
According to the report, these accused individuals were conducting their operations by utilizing calling services available on social media sites like WhatsApp and Signal.
In order to obtain contact leads illegally, the operators used WhatsApp and Signal vendors. They then contacted victims using toll-free numbers that these vendors created and distributed, ultimately linking them to the bogus call center.
Under the guise of representatives of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and even the Indian diplomatic missions, the scammers used the threat of legal repercussions to pressure victims into sending money between $500 and $3,000 via cryptocurrency and gift cards.
According to the statement, it was also discovered that certain unidentified bank officials from the public and private sectors enable these operations by helping to construct and run fictitious accounts using fraudulent KYC documents, which is against established RBI and institutional rules.
Initial results indicate that anonymous public and private sector bank staff enabled the creation of fictitious accounts using falsified Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation, flagrantly violating RBI norms and aiding the scam.
According to the statement, it has been discovered that mule accounts, cryptocurrency, and hawala methods are being used to launder the illicitly obtained revenues, which are believed to be between ₹3 and 4 crores each month.
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