PANAJI
The Crime Branch (CB) sleuths have arrested 18 persons who impersonated staff of loan firms and duped customers in the United States through an illegal call centre situated in Porvorim.
During a raid on the intervening night of August 8-9, the team raided a bungalow located at Alto Torda in Porvorim, where the centre was found to be in operation.
“The accused obtained personal information of US citizens who applied for loans in their country. They used Google Voice to impersonate e-loan or merchant cash advance staff, under the pretext of disbursing loans to them. They convinced victims to pay 10 percent of the loan amount as processing fees or security deposit via online methods like Google Pay, gift cards, Apple Pay Gift cards, Walmart Gift cards, and Target Gift cards. The scammers then converted the gift cards into cash and transferred the funds to a US agent, who sent the money to the mastermind Sagar Mehtani in India using Hawala transactions,” Superintendent of Police (CB) Nidhin Valsan said.
Sagar Mehtani and his wife Bansari Tanavani have been made prime accused in the case.
During the raid 13 laptops, 13 mobile phones, four modems and four routers, along with other accessories worth around Rs 15 lakh, were seized from the accused.
