PANAJI: The Goa Police team consisting of personnel from the crime branch and Cyber crime cells arrested 13 people accused of operating illegal call centers from Morjim, Pernem, on Wednesday.
The call center is being used to deceive US citizens.
The defendant will pose online as an official of the US law enforcement authority and seek payments from ‘US citizens who default.
US citizens were made to pay through a voucher, which was converted to cryptocurrency by the defendant and then withdrawn by fraudsters from Ahmedabad as India’s currency.
Divijay Rajput and Krunal Sharma were identified as the main defendant, who had established illegal call centers and also hired other people to work for them.
Police said that the people accused of mainly came from Gujarat and Mumbai, and had begun to operate recently.
The defendant will convince their victims that they have taken illegal actions such as failing to pay tax payments.
“The defendant was obtained by the Personal Details of the US citizens through illegal facilities and by using virtual personal computer and personal networks (VPN), contacted their victims through an interactive voice response system by mimicing the Social Security / Authority of the US law enforcement authority,” the police said in a statement .
The defendant would tell their victims that their social security number (SSN) would be blocked because they were found involved in criminal investigations.
The victims were then forced to resolve this problem by paying a fine in the form of a cash voucher, which was then converted into Bitcoin.
On Tuesday, Pi Rahul Puriab received reliable information that illegal call centers were arranged in Morjim, from which fraud was carried out.
The combined team carried out an attack at a hotel in Tembwaddo, Morjim.
Allegations have rented out places from local, and run the illegal call center there.
The team included Pis Rahul Puriab and Narayan Chimulkar, and PSIS Devendra Pingle and Rohan Nageshkar.
During the attack, the police found a full call center operating at the hotel.
In addition to making arrests, the police also seized electronic devices including 12 computers and laptops.
Further technical and forensic investigations are underway.
Goa: Illegal Call Center in Morjim Defauds US Citizens, 13 Held
