The first voice on the other end of the phone was allegedly that of a technical support agent.
The caller claimed to represent Microsoft or a “global technical support” service and offered to fix a supposed virus or security problem on the victim’s computer.
Police also revealed how the miscreants allegedly operated a carefully divided three-stage system to target mainly US citizens. Police shared details of the entire modus operandi on Saturday and said how a 16-member international cyber fraud call centre was busted at Ridhya Plaza in Aliganj on Friday.
But according to Lucknow police, the real trap began once the victim allowed remote access to the computer. Police said the fraudsters would then conduct a fake security scan and present the victim with an alarming “finding”. Police said the alleged operators accepted money through gift cards, bank transfers and cryptocurrency, allowing the operation to use multiple channels to receive payments.
Clicking the pop-up connected the victim to the call centre. The agent would then allegedly pose as a Microsoft representative or global technical-support executive and offer to resolve the supposed problem. After gaining the victim’s confidence, the agent would use remote-access software such as UltraViewer to take control of the computer. The verifier team would allegedly call the victim again, confirm the information obtained by the agent and then transfer the case to the closure team.
Victims would first see fake pop-ups or warnings on their computers claiming that the device had been infected, compromised or faced a security threat, according to investigators.
