Call centre scam: Five dupe US citizens by offering loans

Meghwadi police on Sunday busted a fake call centre being run from a rented residential structure inside a slum in Jogeshwari (East) and arrested five persons. The

Meghwadi police on Sunday busted a fake call centre being run from a rented residential structure inside a slum in Jogeshwari (East) and arrested five persons. The arrested accused allegedly made phone calls to citizens of the United States and tricked them into buying gift cards by offering loans. The police are yet to ascertain how much the accused had gathered from the scam.

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According to police, Mohamed Shaikh, 23, was the chief operator while Mohsin Sayed, 25; Ramiz Shaikh, 25; Arbaz Ansari, 20; and Umer Mir, 22, made the phone calls. They were operating from the first floor of a one-storey structure in Naeem chawl in Prem Nagar, Jogeshwari (East).

Senior police inspector Sudhir Nigudkar said, “We raided the place at 2am after receiving specific tip. No one in the area knew about them as they keep shifting their address. They had been operating from here for two-and-a-half months and have made thousands of calls to US citizens.”

Explaining the modus operandi, a police officer said, “They posed as executives from a popular American company which offers loans. They first sent text messages offering loans, and then would contact the ones who responded to their texts. They would then take the customer’s details for the loan and ask for an amount as processing fees. They made the victims buy gift cards from online shopping portals which come with a scratch code, and then used it to withdraw money.”