Fake Call Centre Cons US Citizens Of Rs 1,000 Crore, 14 Arrested 

Mumbai: The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police have busted an illegal call centre wherein its executives allegedly conned US nationals of lakhs of rupees by posing as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials. The police arrested 14 person so far in connection with the case what they described it as Rs 1,900-crore that was busted last year.

The police added that the call centre was operational in Malad and Bangur Nagar area in western suburbs.

Unit-3 of Crime Branch raided Agarwal B2B and Grape INC call centres in Malad and Bangurnagar area on November 1 on the specific tip off about the activities in both the call centres, an official said.

"During the raid police arrested atleast 13 persons who were running the call centre and seized 8 CPU, 9 laptops,2 wi-fi routers, 14 mobile phones," said Jagdish Sail, Senior Police Inspector of Crime Branch Unit-3.

"After investigation we are suspecting an international syndicate in this scam and we are probing it accordingly," he said.

The names of the arrested persons are Moshir Mobin Shaikh, Talib Ansari, Azim Shaikh, Aadil Sayyad, Ronald Rodriges, Farhan Shaikh, Prashant Kamble, Abhishek Dubey, Shadab Sayyad, Sohail Shaikh, Jarar Haider, Shabaz Siraz Shaikh and Hemant Gaikwad, said police.

Executives of the call centres used to make Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls through laptop and computer to the US citizens and used to threaten them posing as IRS officials and were asking them to pay taxes, he said.

They used to force US citizens to purchase gift vouchers to pay illegal taxes, through which they were cheated of thousands and lakhs, he said.

All the accused persons were produced before the court and have been sent to police custody till November 9, he added.(PTI)