These merchants used to get the money for the syndicate with a 30 per cent cut. Most of these merchants, the police said, are based in Gujarat.
The Thane police, investigating the multi-crore-rupee Mira Road call centre racket that duped many US nationals by impersonating as US Internal Revenue Security officials, have come across a few "merchants", who were important links in the entire chain.
These merchants used to get the money for the syndicate with a 30 per cent cut. Most of these merchants, the police said, are based in Gujarat.
Explaining the role of these merchants, a police officer said: "When a caller is on one line talking to a victim in the US, he (caller) would be on a parallel line with a merchant. Once the caller gets the 16-digit code of iTune cards or Target Gift cards from the victim, he would share the code with the merchant. The merchant, in flat 15 minutes, would confirm receipt of money from the US. Only when the merchant confirms receipt of money would the caller disconnect the call with the victim."
At least 10 such merchants have come under police scanner. "We have the names of some merchants. How they used to transfer money from the US to India would be known only when we get hold of Sagar Thakkar alias Shaggy, one of the five kingpins, or when we question the merchants. Our teams have fanned outside the state for further probe," Thane Police Commissioner Parambir Singh told dna.
The police have launched a hunt to nab Thakkar and the four other kingpins -- Ali, Jimmy, Akhil Singh and Tapesh. Thakkar, the Ahmedabad kingpin of the racket, owned about 70 call centres. The average monthly turnover of each call centre was about Rs 2 crore. Ever since the Thane police raided the call centres run by Thakkar at Mira Road on October 4, he has been on the run. It is suspected that he and his sister Reema might have fled to Dubai.
How the racket worked
A few bogus call centres were set up in Mira Road and those working there had got hold of a list of certain tax defaulters in the US from their US-based counterparts. They used to call up these defaulters through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and threaten them that if they don't pay up the fine of $10,000, they would be put behind bars for three months. The victims were also told that they would be blacklisted by the department, their motor driving licences impounded and Social Security Numbers blocked if they fail to pay up. Once the victims agree to pay up, the fraudsters would tell them to make the payment through Target Gift cards or through the iTunes money transfer system. Nine call centres in Mira Road were raided and 72 persons were arrested and 700 others have been served notices.
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