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Call centre scam: 6,400 US citizens complained to IRS last year: Thane police

As many as 6,400 US citizens had complained to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) department of the United States (US), informing them of receiving threat calls to pay fine for defaulting on taxes.

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Call centre scam accused being brought to Thane court on Thursday. They were remanded in police custody till October 10
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As many as 6,400 US citizens had complained to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) department of the United States (US), informing them of receiving threat calls to pay fine for defaulting on taxes. And ever since Thane Police chief Param Bir Singh made his email ID available to these US citizens – taken to ride by the fraudsters from Mira Road in Thane – and busted the call centre scam, the victims have been calling up Thane police to thank them.

"Tejas Vakil from California called me up to say that his father was harassed by the fraudsters from Mira Road to the limits. The fraudsters had extorted $2,050 from Vakil's father. Another person from Delhi informed that many US citizens known to him were duped by the syndicate in a similar fashion. After coming across several such instances, I made my email ID available to those duped in this fashion so that more victims can come forward. Last year, at least 6,400 US citizens complained to IRS of getting such calls," Singh told dna.

After having received a tip-off about such bogus call centres at Mira Road, police decided to gather evidence before conducting raids. "We scouted for a youth with good command over English and can win over the fraudsters. We came across a 25-year old and sent him as our mole in one of the call centres. He worked there for at least 15 days, gathering information and audio/video recording the interiors and the goings on there, based on which the raids were conducted," he said.

"Floor supervisors and team leaders had made it compulsory for the callers to record their calls with the US-based victims. This was mainly to keep track of the money that is being extorted. These call records will now be the biggest evidence against the fraudsters. We suspect that similar call centres could be operating in Mumbai and Gujarat as well. A team of US Federal Bureau of Investigation is also likely to visit soon to gather information about the syndicate," said another police officer.

The accused were so precise in their execution of con, that in some cases they called up the victims and asked them to visit a store where gift cards were available and share their 16 digits PIN numbers without cutting the calls. Some of the victims even cried and pleaded during the calls, police said.

The modus operandi

According to the victims, a few bogus call centres in Thane called them up over VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and demanded that they pay $10,000 as fine or go to jail for three months for tax default in US. They were told that they would be blacklisted, driving licences impounded and Social Security Number blocked if they fail to pay up.

Sharing the spoils: Once the victims agreed to pay up, the fraudsters asked them to pay either through Target Gift Card or itunes money transfer system. The money generated through fraud were shared by the US and Indian members of the syndicate in the ratio of 30% and 70%.

The police action: Police raided nine call centres at Mira Road in Thane from where the alleged fraudsters operated and arrested 72 people. They seized hard disks, servers and various equipment used by the fraudsters and also served notices to 700 others.

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