In a major crackdown on cybercrime, the Cyber Police Station arrested six individuals early Tuesday morning for operating an illegal call center that scammed U.S. residents through tech support frauds posing as representatives of Microsoft and Norton.
The operation was conducted at a commercial facility located on Diamond Harbour Road, between 4 am and 4:35 am. The accused have been identified as:
Aman Sharma (25)
Deepak Singh (26)
Rahul Das (30)
Avinash Singh (21)
Sudhir Kumar Mahato (28)
Pratik Kumar Singh (27)
Police stated the group used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to contact American victims, falsely claiming to offer support services for Microsoft and Norton software. Once victims were convinced, the scammers gained remote access to their computers, allowing them to siphon money from accounts using cryptocurrency and other untraceable routes.
“They ran a sophisticated operation with technical infrastructure that made them appear authentic,” said a senior cyber official.
Items Recovered:
Rs3,50,500 in cash
5 laptops
9 mobile phones
3 multimedia headphones
VoIP diallers and remote access software
The suspects were charged under various provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, including:
Computer-related offences
Cheating by personation
Identity theft
They were produced before court later that day, with a police remand request. Authorities are now investigating the full scale of the fraud and identifying additional victims and co-conspirators.
“This is part of our larger crackdown on cybercriminals preying on international targets,” the official added.
