American nationals are increasingly at risk from phony call centers located in Mohali. Three such centers that were defrauding Americans have been taken down by the state cyber cell and district police over the last four months.
Sources claim that the recent busts are only a tiny portion of the issue. Mohali is allegedly home to hundreds of call centers that defraud people all over the United States. It is estimated that a sizable portion of these operations are active in the district alone.
However, Punjab’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Cyber Crime, V Neerja, denied the existence of numerous other similar phony call centers in Mohali, explaining that although the area has developed into an IT hub with real call centers, cybercriminals frequently pose as legitimate companies. She assured that the police act promptly whenever they receive information about illegal activities.
Under its National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), a multi-agency task force, the FBI works with several nations to improve cybersecurity. The task force exchanges data with the pertinent nations in which cybercrime targeting US nationals has taken place. Another platform where US citizens report cyber fraud is the Internet Crime Control Centre (IC3), which helps US and Indian authorities work together to combat these scams.
Recent Busta and Arrests
A call center in Mohali’s Industrial Area, Phase 8 was raided on May 17 by the state cyber cell, which resulted in the arrest of 155 people, the majority of whom were from northeastern states like Manipur, Mizoram, and West Bengal. Although the formal charges have not yet been filed in court, authorities have stated that they will this month. To exchange details about the victims in the US, the cyber cell is also working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
District police arrested 37 people during a raid on another call center in the industrial area on June 26. The hiring of residents of the northeast for the call centers was the unifying factor in both situations. Scamming US citizens by pretending to be bankers or customer service agents was the method of operation.
On August 6, the Mohali police raided yet another call center in Zirakpur, where they detained 21 individuals, four of whom were women and four of whom were citizens of Sudan. US citizens were also the target of this group.
The Modus Operandi
The accused trick their victims by using dishonest methods. For instance, the police disclosed that Webtap Solutions Private Limited employee Praveen Chetri had engaged in fraudulent activity in coordination with Rishi Vyas, the company’s owner, in order to oppose bail for one of the suspects.
US citizens received emails from scammers claiming that there was a pending transaction on their PayPal accounts. If the recipients disagreed with the charges, they encouraged them to call the toll-free number they provided. The con artists pretended to be bank employees and told the victims over the phone to buy gift cards from eBay or Google Pay. After obtaining the gift card codes, the con artists moved the funds to their personal accounts.
Bypassing The Banking System
By taking payments in the form of bitcoins or gift cards from US citizens, the scammers avoid using the Indian banking system. During questioning, those detained in the raids in May and June acknowledged that they gave the victims instructions to buy e-commerce gift cards, which were subsequently cashed in India. To avoid being discovered by Indian authorities, they refrained from utilizing the banking system. The police found out that the con artists were paid in bitcoins during their most recent apprehension.
Scale of The Scam
The police are looking into how these con artists got hold of US citizens’ personal information. According to preliminary findings, the call center operators’ masterminds bought the data from contacts. An anonymous officer disclosed that those who were successful in their scam calls could make anywhere from $250 to $1,200. With a success rate of 10–20%, these scammers made hundreds of calls a day on average, making between $4,000 and $7,000 every day.
Types of Fraud
The scams cover a wide range of fraudulent activities, including ransom demands, spoofing, phishing, identity theft, child adoption fraud, money mule schemes, frauds involving charities and natural disasters, holiday and medical scams, and more.
Cover of Illegal Call Centers
Officials from the State Cyber Cell found that these illicit call centers frequently pose as reputable e-commerce support providers. Executives are said to assist clients with their online shopping. But these businesses are just fronts for the illicit call centers, which helps the con artists avoid registering with any government agency and carry on their operations unnoticed.
Recruitment and Operation
According to investigations, the majority of those detained had only high school education; they were frequently recent graduates from senior secondary school or college dropouts. English language proficiency was a prerequisite for work in these call centers. Workers were paid between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 35,000 a month, plus extra for pulling off successful scams. Jyoti Yadav, Superintendent of Police, stated that individuals with proficient English language skills, irrespective of their educational background, are eligible to work in these centers.
The majority of the call center employees were from northeastern states, where English proficiency is higher than among locals, making them ideal candidates for these operations, according to an officer involved in the June 26 investigation.
Police Response
Jyoti Yadav, Mohali’s Superintendent of Police (Detective), said that these crimes are still being investigated. She attested to the fact that the recently uncovered Zirakpur call center had defrauded a number of US citizens and that locals as well as Sudanese nationals were complicit in the crime.