The Punjab police cracked down on cybercrime and took town two counterfeit call centers in the city of Mohali just outside Chandigarh. 155 people were arrested in connection with scams against American citizens.
According to Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, the call centers, located in Sector 74 of Mohali, were suspected to be orchestrated by kingpins based in Gujarat, who remain at large. The police, led by ADGP of cyber crime V Neeraja, conducted raids on both establishments, leading to the arrest of all 155 employees.
During the raids, law enforcement authorities seized a significant cache of equipment, including 79 desktop computers, 204 laptops, mobile phones, and various accessories. While 18 suspects were placed under police remand for further investigation, the remaining individuals were remanded to judicial custody.
The scam carried out by call center employees aimed primarily at Americans who were exploited due to their faith and money problems. They charged the fee before, then ran away with the money they had earned from purchase of gift cards using one of their strategies which was giving low-interest loans to people with poor credit ratings.
Additionally, the perpetrators posed as representatives of Amazon, threatening customers with false accusations of illegal purchases and coercing them into making payments through cash apps or Amazon gift cards to resolve the fabricated issues. The gift card details were then shared with accomplices in the US, who redeemed them and facilitated the transfer of funds back to the masterminds in India through illicit channels like Hawala.
The call center’s also used a different trick which was to fool their victims into thinking that their computer system had been hacked, leading them to obtain some malicious software. This software enabled them to get their fingers on the screens of the innocent people and carry out an unauthorized money transfer from their bank accounts.
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The police also revealed the involvement of brokers who provided customer information to these call centres, facilitating their illicit operations and exacerbating the scope of the scam.
Taking down these fake telephone centers shows how seriously the state’s police are taking issues related to internet fraud while at the same time ensuring that people who might get defrauded are safe from those who con targeting them with scam messages – said one officer.” The authorities in Punjab have called on members of the public not to relax their vigilance but rather report anything they deem as not being right so as to avoid being taken advantage of again later on.
