New Delhi: The Austrian government on Thursday thanked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its prompt actions in reducing frauds in Austria and neighbouring countries.
A delegation of Austrian law enforcing agencies met CBI officials during the ongoing 90th General Assembly of Interpol in New Delhi and communicated their appreciation for the prompt investigation undertaken by the Indian agency.
"Law enforcing agencies of both the countries reiterated their commitment to further collaborate in the ongoing investigation," a government official privy to the meeting said.
The official said that acting on some inputs from western countries, CBI registered a case and recently conducted searches at a call centre in Shadi Kampur village in New Delhi, where victims from foreign countries were duped by the accused.
"Impersonating as law enforcement and Europol officers, the accused used to tell them that their identities were stolen and crime pertaining to narcotics drugs were committed in their names. In order to clear themselves of this suspicion, the victims were compelled to transfer their assets, money to a trust account through bank transfers, crypto wallets, gift card notes or voucher codes," the official said.
During the course of investigation, another call centre in Noida was also traced and raided by CBI.
"During the operation, an amount of 25.83 bitcoins, and Rs 30,92,702 available in different wallets of accused have been frozen along with an amount of Rs 30,43,025 in the bank account of one of the accused," the official said.
