Fake call centre targeting foreigners busted, 4 arrested

Vadodara: The Local Crime Branch (LCB) on Sunday busted a bogus call centre operating from the Race Course area and arrested four men allegedly involved in cheating foreign nationals by offering fake loan approvals and collecting money from them.

Acting on a tip-off, LCB officials raided an apartment in the area and found four men allegedly running the illegal operation using laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.

The accused were identified as Karan Lokwani (32), Jonathon Das (32), Pankaj Jethwani (40) and Alerasul Saiyad (34), all residents of Vadodara.

According to police, the gang targeted citizens of various countries by calling them and falsely informing them that their loan applications had been approved. The victims were then asked to share their debit card details and CVV numbers and transfer between $150 and $200 as processing or service fees.

Investigators said the accused used the information obtained from victims to collect money, part of which was allegedly converted into cryptocurrency before being routed to Indian bank accounts.

Police officials said the accused appeared to be well educated and fluent in English. Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the accused had expertise in the stock market, while another had previous experience working in a call centre.

“The gang procured contact details of foreign citizens from the dark web and used them to identify potential victims,” a police official said.

During interrogation, the accused allegedly admitted that they had been operating the fake call centre for the past two months with the intention of making quick money.

Police are now examining bank records, cryptocurrency transactions and digital devices seized during the raid to determine the amount of money siphoned off through the fraud.

A case of cheating and other relevant offences has been registered against the four accused at Akota police station. Investigators are also trying to ascertain whether more people were involved in the racket.

Box: Inspired by a web series

Police said the accused told investigators that they were inspired to start the bogus call centre after watching a web series based on a similar fraud racket. “During questioning, the accused revealed that they had watched a web series depicting a call centre scam. They claimed to have learnt the modus operandi of targeting victims over phone calls and the process of converting the proceeds into cryptocurrency from the show,” a police official said.