Indore: Crime branch on Friday raided a flat and arrested 21 people including three women for duping US citizens though a call centre being run illegally in Lasudia area.
MODUS OPERANDI
Posing as US federal agents they used to call up people in the US to say that their Social Security Number had been used for illegal activities, and they would have to pay if they did not want to be slapped with charges. Since they talked in US accent, the victims were convinced and many of them used to transfer US dollars in their accounts, which they used to get converted into rupees through hawala. They used to pay 40 per cent of the amount to hawala operators.
POLICE ACTION
DIG Harinarayanachari Mishra said that they received information about the racket and raided flat number 301 in OK Building in Scheme Number 94 under Lasudia police station jurisdiction, and arrested the accused.
THE ACCUSED
The crime branch team arrested manager Jossi Francis, IT head Jayraj Patel and other 19 youths including three women from the flat. Most of them are from Gujarat and Maharashtra.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
The accused informed the crime branch officials that they used to collect data of Americans from internet sites where such confidential data is sold. They are being questioned about the money they received through hawala operations, and names of other people involved in the racket, mainly the names of their overseas links. Police have come to know that some of the gang members have other cases registered against them in other states and details are being collected. The police are also preparing a list of US victims and the proper authorities in the US would be informed.
GANG OPERATING FOR ONE YEAR
The gang was operating for more than a year in the city but the police were unaware about them. It is said that the same gang was busted by the cyber cell last year and many people were arrested. They were using the same modus operandi. At that time a team of FBI had also reached India and met the officials here to know about the case.
SEIZURES
The crime branch team seized 20 CPUs, servers and other gadgets from the spot. The accused were booked under section 420, 419, 467, 468, 471, 120-B, 109, 34 IPC and 66-D of IT Act.
