₹25 lakhs a day: US-targeting fake call centre racket busted in Pune, 5 held
The crime branch of the Pune police has exposed a fake call centre in Pune that allegedly duped American citizens of over ₹25 lakhs per day by issuing arrest threats, and have taken into custody five people who had been operating the facility, officials said on Saturday, as per a PTI report.
The illegal call centre, Magnetel BPS & Consultants LLP, had been operating out of a multi-storey commercial building in the Kharadi area since August 2024, they said.
It had hired over 120 calling agents, including a dozen women, to work on night shifts, some of whom have been detained for questioning, an official said.
Acting on a tip-off, the crime branch of the Pune police raided the call centre on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, on a regular shift (in accordance with US time zones).
The accused firm's modus operandi allegedly involved contacting US nationals, claiming that their accounts had been misused for drug trafficking or any other fabricated crimes. They then threatened victims with arrest and coerced them into purchasing gift cards, which they later used for personal gains, Pune's Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma said.
Citing their preliminary probe, the official stated that the fake call centre allegedly extorted between $30,000-40,000 (more than ₹25 lakhs) from American citizens daily. The call centre mostly targeted senior citizens and retired people.
In digital arrest, fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials using threats of arrest, frozen bank accounts, and passport cancellations to coerce victims into paying a fine or security deposit to avoid legal action.
As many as 64 laptops and 41 mobile phones were seized, the official said. Several of these laptops contained suspicious applications, VPN software, and the contact numbers of thousands of US citizens.
The officials explained that the accused and their agents allegedly managed to impersonate government officials using caller masking software.
We have also recovered scripts that the agents were given to trap American citizens, the official said.
Another police official said that the calling agents were paid around ₹25,000 per month. We are checking their background. Cases will also be registered against them. They have been detained for questioning, he said.
The arrested people have been identified as Sarjeetsingh Girawat Singh Shekhawat from Rajasthan, as well as Abhishek Ajaykumar Pandey, Shrimay Paresh Shah, Laxman Amarsingh Shekhawat and Aaron Aruman Christian, hailing from Gujarat.
Three more suspects are currently on the run, and teams have been formed to nab them, he added.
India