In a major breakthrough, the Kolkata Police Detective Department (DD) arrested seven individuals involved in a crypto fraud racket operating from a Behala address.
The police conducted a raid in the early hours of Wednesday at a building located at 88/4 Rai Bahadur Road, Behala. The suspects were running a scam using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls, impersonating PayPal employees and targeting US residents.
The fraudsters made calls to PayPal users in the US, informing them of fraudulent transactions made from their crypto wallets. They convinced the victims that to resolve the issue, they needed to share a One Time Password (OTP). Once the victims provided the OTP, the perpetrators used remote desktop applications to take control of their bank accounts and siphon off their money.
During the raid, 13 mobile phones, three laptops, and one Wi-Fi router were seized by the police.
The arrested individuals were identified as Ritick Singh, Gobind Rajbhar, and Sujan Singha (all from Behala), Sohail Rayaz (from Golf Green), Debasish Roy (from Picnic Garden), Akash Shaw (from Parnashree), and Ritesh Raj (from Siwan, Bihar).
While the authorities are still investigating the total amount of money the gang managed to siphon off, the case will be filed under the Information Technology Act, 2000, as the accused have committed offenses against genuine customers in the US by impersonating themselves as employees of a legitimate payment gateway company.
