CBI busts ‘global call centre’ in Nashik targeting US, Canadian nationals; 5 held

MUMBAI — The CBI has arrested five cyber conmen based in Mumbai and seized seven luxury cars worth INR one crore, 44 laptops, INR 1.20 crore cash and 500 gm gold during a raid on an illegal international call centre operating from a resort in Maharashtra’s Nashik, an official said on Sunday.

Rainforest Resort in Igatpuri was raided after the CBI registered a cyber fraud case on August 8 against six accused, all residents of Mumbai, as well as unknown private persons and bank officials for duping victims in the US and Canada.

Five accused arrested during the operation were identified as Vishal Yadav, Shehbaz, Durgesh, Abhay Raj and Sameer alias Kalia alias Sohail, the official said.

It was alleged in the FIR that the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy to commit financial fraud by impersonation and making phishing calls/deceptive calls from their illegal call centre, posing as Amazon Support Services Call Centre.

Also read: Kolkata Nabanna Avijan march violence: 7 FIRs registered against BJP leaders

They were operating from rented premises in Igatpuri’s Rainforest Resort, the CBI said.

The FIR said that the accused have been cheating citizens of the US, Canada and other countries and fraudulently obtaining proceeds of crime via gift cards/cryptocurrency.

The call centre was run with the help of 60 operators comprising diallers, verifiers and closers, the CBI said.

Investigation by the CBI has resulted in the recovery of 44 laptops and 71 mobile phones and other incriminating digital evidence, as well as the recovery of unaccounted cash of INR 1.20 crore, 500 gm of gold and seven luxury cars worth INR one crore.

Transactions of approximately 5000 USDT cryptocurrency (INR 5 lakh) and 2000 Canadian Dollar worth gift vouchers (INR 1.26 lakh) were detected. During the searches, 62 employees working in the call centre were found operating live, and a process of cheating foreign nationals was in progress.