PANAJI
The Panaji police have busted a fake call centre with the arrest of over a dozen fraudsters operating from a posh location in St Inez. The raiding team also confiscated accessories and cash, totaling around Rs 26.43 lakh.
At a press conference on Friday hours after the successful raid, Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Nidhin Valsan revealed that the accused posed as customer care service providers for Microsoft Company and falsely assured their victims “ all of whom were US nationals - of resolving computer, laptop, and tablet viruses.
Explaining their modus operandi, Valsan detailed how the accused rerouted phone calls to their victims’ laptops using apps like X-lite and MicroSip, or their mobile phones via PingMe.
“They then gained access to customers’ systems through TeamViewer, Alpemix2, or UltraViewer and subsequently demanded fees for installing anti-virus software. They also deceived victims into purchasing $500 gift cards from Amazon, Google, Apple, or Target to cover their fees,” the officer said.
The 13 accused hail from Gujarat, including the fake call centre’s manager, Maharashtra and Nagaland.
Valsan said that the Panaji police seized an array of items which include 25 laptops and chargers, 15 headphones, 11 mice, four routers, one load balancer, two broadband switches, four broadband cables, five adapters, and 25 mobile phones, along with cash amounting to Rs 3,565.
“The combined value of the seized items is around Rs 26,43,900. All the accused are presently in police custody for further interrogation,” he said as additional details are awaited.
On September 16, the Crime Branch (CB) team arrested five out of six persons including two Gujarati natives, on charges of defrauding US nationals through a fake call centre, by falsely promising speedy delivery of Amazon items they had purchased.
