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Insider tip-off led to crackdown on Thane call centre racket
THANE: A tip-off from an insider led to the detection of a fake call centre racket on Mira Road, wherein the accused used to dupe US citizens posing as Internal
THANE: A tip-off from an insider led to the detection of a fake call centre racket on Mira Road, wherein the accused used to dupe US citizens posing as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials. As many as 70 people have already been arrested in the case, which was cracked on Tuesday.
Sources in the Thane police said that three to four employees of the call centre had a fallout with their bosses, following which they lifted incriminating audio recordings and presented them to the Thane police. Investigators took nearly two weeks to study the entire racket before springing into action.
Sources said the racketeers may have duped as many as 6,500 people of over $26.5 million since October 2013.
Police have learnt that the Thane office was run by a Gujarati businessman, and the monetary transactions were carried out through hawala channels. The mastermind behind the racket, on the other hand, is believed to be a US national of Indian origin.
Refusing to disclose the identity or location of the suspect, Thane police commissioner Paramveer Singh said, “Our investigation is on. We will disclose names at the relevant time.”
Police sources said information on the primary suspect’s whereabouts has been shared with their counterparts in the US.
Explaining the modus operandi of the racketeers, sources said the call centre employees would pose as IRS officials to bully loan defaulters into making payments.
They would be asked to submit bank details, through which the callers would hack into their accounts and make a clean swipe of their savings. The call centre agents were reportedly trained to converse with the defaulters in an American accent. A special software was also used to conceal the number they were calling from. Each victim would be targeted by two callers, and each employee was required to meet a “daily target”.
The job was advertised through posters stuck in local trains, and most of the employees were unemployed youth working under the promise of an attractive salary.
Police are probing the role of the US-based agents, who earned a commission of 30% per victim while their counterparts on Mira Road bagged a plump 70%.
Meanwhile, the Thane police are reportedly planning to make the 700-odd employees of the call centre witnesses in the case. Sources said they would be asked to record their statements, but were unlikely to be arrested. Joint commissioner of police (Thane) Ashutosh Dumbare said they were ready to share the information with the US authorities.
