Police in Assam have uncovered a multi-crore fraud and shut down eight illegal contact centers that were defrauding foreigners and Indians under the pretence of providing technical support. 191 people have been apprehended, and three people who are thought to be the scam’s masterminds have been arrested.
The Assam Police Crime Branch and the Guwahati Police conducted raids in several locations throughout Guwahati in response to intelligence reports and found eight illegal call centers being run by con artists. According to a police officer, the scam has been going on for the past two years, and the proceeds were moved using hawala and bitcoin channels.
Employees from all around the nation worked at the call center.
“A reliable intelligence input was received that some scammer gangs are operating in Guwahati. They are involved in running call centers and defrauding Indians and foreigners by pretending to be technical support staff,” stated Guwahati Police Commissioner Diganta Borah. They would also pretend to be customer service agents.
According to Mr Borah, the scammers would use pop-ups on computers or call their targets claiming to be from a well-known organization or institution, such as a bank, technical support company, government agency, or even a renowned internet service provider.
They would then instill a false sense of urgency in their victims by alleging that their bank account has been compromised, their computer has a virus, their social network account has been hacked, or their personal information is in danger.
According to the commissioner, the con artists would then instruct the victims to install remote desktop software on their computers or smartphones in order to fix the problem before installing malware on the devices to gain access to the victims’ bank accounts and steal their confidential data.
According to a police official, the con artists’ method of operation included the use of phoney toll-free numbers and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls, which are telephone calls made over the internet.
“Some of the call centres also took lease line connections with fake documents from different internet service providers to create something resembling a fake internet-based telephone exchange, which could be a cause of concern for national security,” he added.
A police official claimed that the con artists’ methods included the use of phoney toll-free numbers and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls, which are calls made over the internet.
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Source: NDTV
