CBI Crackdown on Fake Call Centres- Another call centre busted that duped US citizens, four held

New Delhi, February 17

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while working on the crackdown on fake call centres allegedly defrauding USA citizens busted another such call centre.

The  agency conducted searches at four different locations across Delhi NCR and recovered over Rs 3 crore in cash, foreign currencies and other materials.

The accused have been identified as Harish Kumar, Amit Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Athotra, and Raj Kumari.

The CBI informed that during the search, a fake tech support call centre was found where the accused/other person was allegedly involved in online-cheating of US citizens impersonating as tech support executives. They were allegedly receiving leads from their source, and on these leads, they would call potential targets in USA via Textnow application and take control of their systems using remote access software like Any Desk on the pretext of solving issues.

It was further alleged that they would then guide the targets to buy a gift card for installing/upgrading the security software (which was never actually done) and take the card number from them. It was also alleged that the gift card numbers taken from the targets were sent to an exclusive telegram group for cash redemption through hawala channel, officials added. 

The searches led to massive recoveries-15 mobile phones, seven laptops containing the remote access application, Textnow app, fake international calling numbers, incriminating documents pertaining to USA nationals, crypto investments, chats containing details of the alleged fraud and scripts for talking to USA citizens.

The CBI had registered a case in June 2022 against four accused and other unknown persons on the allegations that the accused had fraudulently gained remote access to the digital resources of unsuspecting victims of USA and allegedly transferred the digital assets/crypto currencies from the wallets/accounts of the victims to their wallets.