Dehradun Police have arrested eight individuals for allegedly operating illegal call centers that defrauded people. The gang, composed of members from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Bihar, was apprehended in the IT Park area.
The operation was initiated after SSP Ajai Singh received credible information about an illegal international call center in the Cyanotech Building near Rajpur’s IT Park. The call center was reportedly deceiving foreigners by claiming their computers had been hacked.
Under the direction of Ajai Singh, two police teams, led by the SP City and Circle Officer of Mussoorie, executed the raid on the call center named Global Tech Energy Solutions. The teams discovered a large facility with around 100 workstations, where young men and women were making calls to obtain sensitive bank information from victims.
The detained individuals include Mihir Ashwin Bhai Patel, Lalit alias Rodi, Amir Suhail, Manoj Mirpuri, Ankit Singh, Kaushik Jana, Shivam Dubey, and Goswami Het Bharti. During interrogation, Patel and Rodi confessed to targeting citizens in the USA and Canada, posing as representatives of the International Anti Hacking Department.
Their method involved sending pop-up messages to victims, which, when clicked, granted the scammers access to the victims’ computers and bank accounts. Another team in the USA facilitated these pop-ups and tracked monetary transactions, sending the funds back to India through hawala channels.
Police found various applications and tools used in the scam, including QUICK ASSIST, LOGMEIN, and EYEBEAM. In total, authorities seized 81 laptops, 42 mobile phones, 29 desktop computers, and a Mahindra Thar vehicle.
Mihir Patel, originally from Ahmedabad but residing in Dehradun, and other accused hail from various regions. The police plan to reward the investigative team with Rs25,000 for their efforts in this significant bust.
Yes, eight individuals have been arrested in connection with the illegal call center scam. The arrested individuals are:
- Mihir Ashwin Bhai Patel
- Lalit alias Rodi
- Amir Suhail
- Manoj Mirpuri
- Ankit Singh
- Kaushik Jana
- Shivam Dubey
- Goswami Het Bharti