In a major operation targeting illegal call centres, the Bengal Cyber Cell Wing and Bidhannagar Police have arrested 27 individuals, including four women, following raids on illegal call centres operating in Sector V Salt Lake, Lake Town, and Narendrapur. The raids were aimed at curbing the growing illegal call centre activities, particularly in Kolkata’s IT parks and residential areas.
The police seized a total of Rs 96 lakh in defrauded money, alongside substantial bitcoin transactions worth over Rs 204 crore that had been carried out during the past year. Additionally, three illegal call centres were sealed, and critical evidence, including computer hardware, attendance registers, and other documents, was recovered.
The first raid occurred at an illegal call centre in Imagine Tech Park, Sector V, Salt Lake, where Rs 68 lakh was seized, along with an additional Rs 9.4 lakh found at the home of Avinash Jaiswal, the owner of the operation. Jaiswal, alongside Sk Saju from Entally and Devender Singh from Behala, was arrested. The fraudsters had been running the call centre for the past four months, primarily targeting US citizens. The victims were tricked into paying for tech support services that were, in reality, fraudulent. The perpetrators used gold coins and bitcoins to collect money from the victims.
The second raid was conducted at a posh condo in Narendrapur, where Joy Halder was arrested for posing as a Microsoft employee to cheat US citizens. Police recovered Rs 26 lakh in cash, and USDT 2.3 crore (approx.), amounting to Rs 204 crore INR, was traced through his crypto account transactions over the past year.
The third raid was carried out in Lake Town, where a call centre operating under the name “Ostenix Solutions” was shut down. This operation, led by Samir Khan, defrauded Australian citizens by impersonating employees of National Broadband Networks of Australia. During the raid, 21 people, including four women, were arrested, and critical evidence, such as 29 computers, two laptops, 23 mobile phones, and various documents related to the fraud, were seized.
The perpetrators used advanced software called “Eye-Beam”, configured with foreign IP addresses from France and Finland, to make their operations appear legitimate. The police are now investigating further, with several accused currently in police remand.
These raids highlight the ongoing crackdown on cybercrime and fraudulent activities in the region, with efforts being made to dismantle illegal call centre networks targeting international victims.
