According to reports, on Sunday, police in Maharashtra’s Palghar district uncovered a fraudulent contact center that was reportedly defrauding Canadians and intimidating them into paying for online purchase orders. According to them, 23 persons have already been detained in relation to this.
According to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Balasaheb Patil, the police raided the call center, which was operating out of six apartments in a housing complex in Nane village of Wada taluka to avoid being observed by security agents, on the night between Friday and Saturday.
He said that the accused collected several Canadian residents’ contact information unlawfully by using programs like X-Lite, Eyebeam, and X-ten.
In order to steer consumers to one of the fictitious call centers, they would phone customers about online purchase orders that weren’t really placed by the victims. The contact center employees were given a certain script to follow while speaking with the victims.
According to the official, if the victims avoided them, the accused intimidated them by warning that they would face criminal and legal repercussions and compelled them to make payments using various methods, including Bitcoin. He said that the accused utilized “voice calls and robotic calls” to evade capture.
The police said that they conned a number of Canadians and that they believe the accused also called victims in other nations. 23 contact center employees were detained by the police after the operation. According to the official, there were at least four more people participating in the long-running scam, and searches were being made to find them.
According to senior inspector Suresh Kadam of the Wada police station, a complaint has been filed against the accused under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Act, and the Indian Telegraph Act. The matter was being investigated, according to the police.