The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered a major cybercrime operation running from an illegal call centre set up at a rented property inside a private resort in Igatpuri, Nashik. The racket allegedly targeted unsuspecting victims in the United States, Canada and other countries. According to officials, the fraudsters posed as customer care representatives of a well known multinational e commerce company.
The CBI investigation began after a cyber cheating case was registered on Friday against six residents of Mumbai and unidentified bank officials whose suspected involvement in helping the racket is being verified. The First Information Report states that the accused conspired with each other and others to commit financial fraud by impersonating support staff of the e commerce company and making deceptive calls from the call centre.
Around 60 operators were recruited to run the scam. Their work was divided into three levels which included contacting potential victims, verifying their details and finally convincing them to make payments. A CBI official said, “The accused persons were cheating citizens of the US, Canada and other countries and fraudulently obtaining proceeds of crime via gift cards and cryptocurrency.” Officials pointed out that cryptocurrency is not recognised as legal tender in India.
During a raid on Friday, CBI officials found 62 employees working live on calls, allegedly in the process of cheating foreign nationals. The team found fraudulent transactions involving around 5000 USDT cryptocurrency valued at about ₹5 lakh and 2000 Canadian dollars in gift vouchers worth ₹1.26 lakh. In addition, unaccounted cash worth ₹1.2 crore, 500 grams of gold and seven luxury cars worth ₹1 crore were seized. CBI agency also recovered 44 laptops, 71 mobile phones and other incriminating digital material.
The five arrested men have been identified as Vishal Yadav, Shebaz, Durgesh, Abhay Raj also known as Raja, and Sameer also known as Kalia or Sohail. CBI authorities are now working to identify other possible accomplices and to determine the exact method used to defraud victims along with the total scale of the scam.
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