LUCKNOW Twenty-two days after Lucknow Police’s crime branch busted a fake call centre at Summit Building in Gomti Nagar and less than a week after a similar operation was unearthed from an apartment in Omaxe R2 (Gomti Nagar Extension), the police on Thursday raided Cyber Heights in upscale Vibhuti Khand, exposing yet another alleged sophisticated scam network targeting US citizens. The latest crackdown under Operation Cy-Vajra added to a growing list of high-end properties allegedly being used to run international cyber fraud rackets from the city.
Event Context
“Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of the east zone crime branch, surveillance unit and Vibhuti Khand police raided a fourth-floor office in Cyber Heights around 2.55am on Thursday. Police arrested four alleged key operators, including the alleged mastermind, and found 35 agents working at individual workstations. Thirty-one laptops, 14 mobile phones, two routers and ₹18.5 lakh in cash were seized during the operation,” said DCP (east) Deeksha Sharma.
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“The prime accused, Suraj Tripathi, a resident of Pratapgarh, allegedly owned and operated the fake international call centre. Investigators said he was assisted by two close relatives — Vivek Pandey, his maternal aunt’s son (cousin) and Rahul Tripathi, his maternal uncle — who allegedly managed the premises, recruited diallers and supervised employees. The fourth accused, Akash Arun Dutta alias Ricky, a resident of Nala Sopara in Maharashtra, allegedly handled the technical infrastructure, including fake websites and the VoIP system used to execute the cyber fraud,” said ACP (Vibhuti Khand) Saumya Pandey.
Police said family connections among the three principal accused point to a closely coordinated operation.
The latest raid highlighted the two major crackdowns carried out earlier this month. On July 1, police busted an alleged international call centre operating from Summit Building, detaining more than 100 people during what was then described as one of Lucknow’s biggest cyber fraud raids. On July 17, another alleged scam centre targeting foreign nationals was unearthed from apartments in Omaxe R2, where police alleged that the accused used fake Microsoft security alerts to dupe victims abroad.
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According to the DCP, the Cyber Heights syndicate adopted a different pitch but a similar playbook. The accused allegedly promoted a fake Apple customer support website so that a spoofed toll-free number appeared prominently in search results. “Calls made by victims were routed through a VoIP system to agents, who allegedly transferred them to “closers” posing as officials of the US Federal Trade Commission and even the US Supreme Court to intimidate victims into making payments,” said ADCP (east) Amol Murkut.
With Cyber Heights becoming the third prominent address to be linked to an alleged international cyber fraud operation in less than a month, police are now examining whether the three cases share common recruiters, technical infrastructure or financial conduits.
3 SYNDICATES, SIMILAR PLAYBOOK
July 1: Summit Building – 122 arrested
July 17: Omaxe R2 – 7 arrested
July 23: Cyber Heights – 4 arrested
Total arrests: 133
MODUS OPERANDI
*FAKE SEARCH RESULT Accused allegedly promoted a fake customer support website so that a spoofed toll-free number appeared prominently in search results. Calls made by victims were routed through a VoIP system to agents, who allegedly transferred them to “closers” posing as officials of the US Federal Trade Commission.
*VICTIM CALLS: Foreign callers reached the Lucknow call centre via VoIP.
*FAKE OFFICIALS Scammers posed as customer care support or US government officials.
*EXTORTION Victims were coerced into sending money through gift cards, gold or cash.
*HAWALA NETWORK Proceeds were routed from the US to Lucknow via hawala.
*CHANGING TACTICS Scripts were regularly changed to evade detection.
