Insiders’ tip-off exposed the racket

THANE: The Thane call centre scam, in which employees of nine call centres made over Rs 1 crore a day by impersonating tax officials and blackmailing Americans,

THANE: The Thane call centre scam, in which employees of nine call centres made over Rs 1 crore a day by impersonating tax officials and blackmailing Americans, was busted after insiders tipped off the police two weeks ago, a source in the police told HT on Thursday. The police also learnt that alleged kingpin of the racket in India is from Gujarat and that money was moved around using hawala. A US national of Indian origin is suspected to be the racket’s international kingpin. A source in the Thane police’s investigating team said three or four employees had issues with their bosses as they were not treated well. These employees passed on recordings of the incriminating phone conversations the police about a fortnight ago. The police raided the call centres on Tuesday night; they arrested 70 employees and served notices to hundreds more.

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On Thursday, all the arrested accused were produced in court, which remanded them in police custody until Monday. The police began questioning the accused about various aspects of the racket, including how they duped the US citizens.

A source in the police said around 6,500 people were duped of over Rs 500 crore in the racket, which may have gone on for over a year.

A source said the employees would pose as IRS (tax) officials to blackmail loan defaulters into making payments. They would threaten them with tax investigations if they didn’t pay $500 to $60,000 (Rs33,000 and Rs40 lakh) to settle the case. They used special software to mask the number they were calling from and ensure that the receivers saw a US number on their phones.

Cops are also probing the role of US-based agents, who they believe earned a 30% commission per victim, as opposed to their counterparts at Mira Road, who earned a hefty 70%.