Thane cops raid 4 more call centres, seize hard disks

THANE: Four more call centres in Mira Road were raided on Saturday, following leads from the employees arrested in the tele fraud case busted earlier this week.

THANE: Four more call centres in Mira Road were raided on Saturday, following leads from the employees arrested in the tele fraud case busted earlier this week.

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Investigators probing the scam — in which several call centres in the area got employees to pose as revenue officials and bully US loan defaulters into making payments — found on questioning the arrested employees that these four centres were using a similar operation.

The centres, however, had shut shop after Tuesday’s raid, officials said.

“We studied the area first and learnt the four centres had closed after our first raid. We haven’t been able to trace any of the employees yet, but we have gathered information from the spot,” said an officer from the Thane commissionerate.

A US national of Indian origin is suspected to be the kingpin of the international racket, and the police are probing the role of agents based in that country.

“We have sent a team to Gujarat to further our probe,” said another police officer privy to the investigation.

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