logo
'Your Computer Is At Risk': How Fake Call Centres In Chandigarh Tricity Duped Foreigners

'Your Computer Is At Risk': How Fake Call Centres In Chandigarh Tricity Duped Foreigners

News184 days ago
Last Updated:
The ED claimed to have busted a major tech fraud racket, following midnight raids on illegal call centres that were duping foreign nationals via spoofing and brand impersonation
Pop-up messages, cloned websites, and fake support hotlines, with text as cliche as 'your computer is at risk" – this is how illegal call centres in Chandigarh Tricity played on their victims' fears, most of whom were elderly or non-tech savvy foreign clients.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed to have busted a major tech fraud racket, following midnight searches on illegal call centres in the Chandigarh Tricity area under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It said these entities duped foreign nationals with spoofing and brand impersonation as a core strategy.
According to top ED sources, these entities systematically impersonated global tech brands to cheat foreign customers, funnelling proceeds through structured shell companies, spoof websites, payment gateways, and later laundering them via banking channels and hawala. The operations were professionally disguised and run under the garb of BPO and IT services, the sources told News18.
The ED sources said entities like Visionaire and Terrasparq have been operational since 2016, showing the longevity and adaptive nature of these networks.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The sources said Faisal Rashid Peerzada, director of FSAL Technologies Pvt Ltd, was involved in spoofing, fund control, backend operations. Arshdeep, director of Bios Webtech (US entity) and a close aide of Faisal, helped mask Indian control.
They said Sahu Jain, director of Visionaire and Terrasparq, had been operational since 2016 and was linked to US firm CTS Mobility owned by his sister Priya, who was a potential overseas conduit.
This is not an isolated scam but a tech-enabled, well-orchestrated fraud ecosystem. They were using front companies in India, showing a calculated effort to evade domestic scrutiny. It also suggested centralised orchestration by Faisal and Jain, they added.
view comments
First Published:
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Unclaimed money with Indian banks rises to Rs 67,000 crore, SBI with 29% of all such deposits
Unclaimed money with Indian banks rises to Rs 67,000 crore, SBI with 29% of all such deposits

Indian Express

time23 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Unclaimed money with Indian banks rises to Rs 67,000 crore, SBI with 29% of all such deposits

The quantum of unclaimed deposits with Indian banks stood at Rs 67,003 crore as at the end of the June quarter, with State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for 29 per cent of all such deposits, the Finance Ministry told Parliament on Monday. According to data shared by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, 87 per cent of all unclaimed deposits were with public sector banks. Of the total unclaimed deposits of Rs 58,330.26 crore with state-owned lenders, Rs 19,329.92 crore was with SBI. The other public sector banks with sizeable chunks of unclaimed deposits include Punjab National Bank (Rs 6,910.67 crore), Canara Bank (Rs 6,278.14 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 5,277.36 crore), and Union Bank of India (Rs 5,104.50 crore). Private banks, on the other hand, held unclaimed deposits of Rs 8,673.72 crore, with ICICI Bank in possession of the most, at Rs 2,063.45 crore. Money in savings and current accounts that have not been operated for 10 years or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from the date of maturity are called unclaimed deposits. These funds are, after the expiry of the 10-year threshold, moved to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In a separate Parliament question in March, data from the Finance Ministry had shown that the amounts of unclaimed deposits rose sharply starting 2022-23. In the previous three years, the annual additions to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund were slightly more than Rs 4,500 crore on average. However, in 2022-23, this almost tripled to Rs 12,254.29 crore before edging down slightly to Rs 11,794.17 crore in 2023-24. The pace was somewhat maintained in the first nine months of 2024-25, with Rs 7,946.49 crore being transferred to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund. Seemingly in response to the rise in unclaimed deposits, the RBI had in June 2023 started a '100 Days 100 Pays' campaign for banks to trace and settle the 100 largest unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days. Subsequently, in August 2023, the Indian central bank had announced the development of a web portal to allow depositors to search across multiple banks for any unclaimed deposits. The portal, called UDGAM – Unclaimed Deposits- Gateway to Access Information – had more than 8.5 lakh registered users as on July 1, Chaudhary said on Monday. Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More

Chhangur Baba, accused of running religious conversion racket, money laundering, send to five-day ED custody
Chhangur Baba, accused of running religious conversion racket, money laundering, send to five-day ED custody

Mint

time23 minutes ago

  • Mint

Chhangur Baba, accused of running religious conversion racket, money laundering, send to five-day ED custody

Chhangur Baba alias Jalaluddin was remanded to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody on Monday by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Lucknow. The court was hearing a case related to a money laundering investigation against Chhangur and his associates linked to an alleged illegal conversion racket in Uttar Pradesh, officials said. According to a PTI report, Chhangur Baba alias Jalaluddin alias Karimulla Shah has been in jail in the predicate offence case being investigated by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). The ED had applied to the court for his custody following which it was allowed a five-day remand of the accused till August 1, the officials said. He will be questioned in jail and his statement will be recorded under the PMLA, they added. Earlier this month, the federal agency had conducted searches at Chhangur's native place in Balrampur district and two locations in Mumbai. The ED had said that the accused had received funds worth ₹ 60 crore in 22 bank accounts, including 'large amounts' from abroad. The money-laundering case against Chhangur Baba stems from the ATS FIR filed at a police station in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021. Chhangur Baba, his son Mehboob and alleged associates Naveen Rohra alias Jamaluddin and Neetu Rohra alias Nasreen were arrested by the ATS. They are currently lodged in a jail. Chhangur Baba has been accused of being involved in a 'large-scale' conspiracy which includes religious conversions, utilisation of foreign funds, and activities posing a potential threat to national security, as reported by PTI. The ED said, 'Chhangur Baba and his associates are alleged to have established an extensive network operating from the premises of the Chand Auliya Dargah in Balrampur, where he regularly organised large gatherings attended by both Indian and foreign nationals.' 'He is accused of systematically inducing, coercing, and manipulating indiduals of other faiths, particularly Scheduled Castes, and economically disadvantaged persons belonging to Hindu religion, into religous conversion,' the probe agency added. The ED searches also led to the seizure of a number of documents that show that the 'proceeds of crime' (illicit funds) were majorly transferred to different people for purchasing a number of immovable properties worth crores of rupees and carrying out construction in these properties. All the immovable assets acquired by Chhangur Baba are in the names of Naveen Rohra and Neetu Rohra to conceal his actual involvement in money laundering, the ED has said.

India needs more Apples: Replicating Apple's model to attract top brands
India needs more Apples: Replicating Apple's model to attract top brands

Business Standard

time23 minutes ago

  • Business Standard

India needs more Apples: Replicating Apple's model to attract top brands

The PLI for smartphones was extremely sophisticated in design, a win-win for all parties Listen to This Article While the jury is still out on many of the production-linked incentive schemes (PLI) introduced by the Indian government, one undeniable success has been the scheme targeting smartphone production. Used largely by Apple, and to a lesser extent by Samsung, this scheme has helped India export over $24 billion worth of smartphones in FY25, up from virtually zero in FY18. Today, India is the world's third-largest smartphone exporter, after China and Vietnam. Apple now assembles about 20 per cent of all iPhones in India, and this percentage is set to keep rising. While local value addition is limited — still

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store