Police bust fake call centre racket defrauding US citizens, 72 held

Cases of cyber crime recorded an 11.8% increase in 2020, a year when most rates of serious crimes fell, the Crime in India 2020 report shows, HT reported.

The police busted a fake call centre racket which was being run to defraud people mainly in the United States of America (USA), an officer in the know of developments said on Friday. At least 72 persons have been arrested and 138 computer systems were seized, including the kingpins who ran the racket, read the police statement.

According to the Whitefield police, the fraudsters ran two companies — Ethical Infotech Pvt Ltd and Gayathri Tech Park — via which they would call customers in the USA citing fraudulent transactions, taking their social security number and other details before emptying their accounts. (HT)

According to the Whitefield police, the fraudsters ran two companies — Ethical Infotech Pvt Ltd and Gayathri Tech Park — via which they would call customers in the USA citing fraudulent transactions, taking their social security number and other details before emptying their accounts.

“Callers mainly targeted victims from the United States of America and the modus operandi involved sending messages to potential targets through text messages, voice mail etc that a fraudulent/suspect transaction or purchase, is noticed in one of their accounts such as a bank account or Amazon account and they are calling on the behalf of Amazon or the bank to resolve the fraudulent transaction,” the police statement said.

“They would finally zero in on gullible victims and then pursue them till they shared their social security numbers, bank account details etc and siphon off money through various means such as untraceable Money transfer apps, including Amazon gift cards, cryptocurrency and even wire transfers,” the police said.

The news comes at a time when India has seen a sharp spike in cyber crimes, especially due to increased online activities and transactions during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns.

Cases of cyber crime recorded an 11.8% increase in 2020, a year when most rates of serious crimes fell, the Crime in India 2020 report shows, HT reported.

In case of cyber crime complaints, the number of cases registered in 2021 rose to 50,035 from 44,735 a year before.

At 8,892 cases, Bengaluru topped the country for the number of cases registered under the Information Technology Act. Bengaluru was followed by Lucknow which accounted for 1,451 cases.

On Thursday, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Girinath complained to the police that fraudsters were using a mobile number to impersonate him and extort money.