Thirteen people, including the alleged manager and three team leaders, have been arrested in connection with the racket.
A fake technical-support call centre in Mahape, allegedly masquerading as representatives of a US tech giant and banks, duped American citizens into transferring money to cryptocurrency wallets and buying gift cards, Navi Mumbai police said.
Police have launched a search for them. Nine others were allegedly working as agents. Police also found scripts on the computers instructing agents on how to speak to American citizens while allegedly carrying out the fraud. An application identified in the FIR as Microsipe was allegedly installed on the computers and used to receive calls from US citizens. The alleged masterminds behind the fake call centre — Mustafa Khan, his wife Zareen and their associates Purvank Shrimali alias KR, Iggy and Sheikh Bhai — remain absconding.
The police seized 255 SIM cards, six mobile phones, nine cheque books, two servers, two CPUs, two SIM boxes, a laptop and printed scripts allegedly used to communicate with victims in fake American accents. Police identified the alleged partner and manager of the call centre as Parth Bharatbhai Patel, 27. Three others — Jambin Jacob Balumal, 28, Naeem Haroon Rashid Sheikh, 46, and Sameer Farid Sheikh, 31 — were identified as team leaders. The police have registered a case under sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonesty), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 3(5) (joint criminal liability) and 238 (giving false information) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
The accused allegedly sent cryptocurrency wallet QR codes to victims and persuaded them to transfer their money. If a victim refused, the accused allegedly claimed the original transaction could be cancelled by purchasing a gift card of the same value and providing its 16-digit number.
