SHL- Cops conduct raids on seven call centres after fraudsters pose as US Internal Revenue Service officials
Thane Police busted a group of call centre fraudsters on Tuesday night for duping United State customers of crores of rupees by posing as US Internal Revenue Service officials. Police raided seven call centres on Mira Road and arrested 72 people involved in the scam. Also, 700 others have been served notices.
Police also seized hard drives, servers and other equipment from the call centres. Some of the accused have been identified as Haider Ali Ayub Mansoori (24), Hamza Iqbal (34), Kabir Vardan Ulhas Gupta (26), Arjun Naresh Vasudev (24), Abdullah Shaukat Zariwala (22), Johnson Supriyam Dantosa (24), Govind Manoj Thakur (27) and Ankit Anil Gupta (19). Universal Outsourcing Services and Hari Om IT Park were the companies running the scam.
The fraudsters, in their best American accent, would call up US customers based on a contact list provided by a team based in the US. They would intimate customers about a default in paying taxes, adding that they would be liable for action if they failed to pay up.
"A number of fake call centres were set up on Mira Road in Thane. The fraudsters would call up customers whose names featured on the tax defaulters' list via Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and tell them that they would be liable to pay $10,000 as fine or face up to three months in prison if they defaulted. The fraudsters told customers that they would be blacklisted by the IRS, their motor driving licenses would be impounded and their social security numbers would be blocked as well," said an officer on condition of anonymity.
The officer added once the victim agreed to pay the fine, the fraudsters would tell them to make payment either through a Target gift card or the iTunes money transfer system. "The money collected from customers would be distributed in the ratio of 30% and 70% per cent between the US and Indian members of the syndicate," the officer said.
Police received a tip-off regarding the scam after one of the fraudsters involved in the scam told a friend about the racket. Unfortunately, the friend knew an officer. "Word of mouth helped blow the lid off the racket," said the officer.
"After the tip-off, about 40 officers and 120 other policemen were deployed to conduct raids on the call centres at night," said Thane police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Singh added that the accused have been arrested under sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act and Information Technology Act.
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