Thane: Police have exposed a bogus call centre in Maharashtra’s Thane district, from where cyber criminals targeted American citizens to defraud them, an official said on Friday. Seven persons were apprehended after police acted on a tip-off and raided the fake call centre operating from the Hatkesh area in Mira Road a few days ago, he said.
Posing as employees of a reputed e-commerce company, the fraudsters used to call up US citizens claiming that their accounts had been hacked or some unauthorised transactions had taken place on their behalf.
Sharing more details of the fraud, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madan Ballal and senior inspector Aviraj Kurhade told reporters that the victims were informed they needed to pay cancellation charges or risk having penalties deducted from their bank accounts.
The victims were made to transfer money to different bank accounts linked to the gang or purchase gift vouchers, which were redeemed by the fraudsters, said the police.
While police have apprehended seven persons, they have identified Shahrukh Shaikh (30) and Imran Khan (27) as the key accused. Laptops, mobile phones and other digital accessories were also seized from the fake call centre, police officials said.
