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Time of India
26-05-2025
- Time of India
All 118 call centre staff accused in Pune scam targeting US citizens with 'digital arrest' threats
Image used is for representational purposes only PUNE: The Pune police named all 118 call centre executives as accused in the Kharadi fake call centre case that was cracked open on Saturday. The crime branch officers are questioning five of those already arrested in the case. Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of the cyber police station said, "We have made all of them accused in the case and served them notices asking them to cooperate with the investigations. These calling agents were aware of their crimes, hence we made them the accused." On Sunday, five teams carried out a raid in Navi Mumbai while another squad is in Ahmedabad in Gujarat on the lookout for the three suspects who ran the call centre and would visit once a fortnight. They have been reported missing. The call centre staff posed as US law enforcement officers and extorted millions of dollars from US citizens using threats of 'digital arrest' in cases of narcotics or other frauds. Police found 123 persons, including 12 women, when they raided the facility. They would rake in 30,000-40,000 USD per day, they added. The case was transferred to Pune city crime branch on Sunday and inspector Ajay Waghmare took over the investigations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cặp EUR/USD: Đà Tăng? IC Markets Đăng ký Undo On Saturday, police arrested Sarjitsingh Girawatsingh Shekhawat (26), Abhishekh Ajaykumar Pande (29), Shrimay Paresh Shah (31), Laxman Amarsingh Shekhawat (28), and Aron Arumugan Christian (29), all residents of Kharadi. They are natives of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat and have been staying in Pune for the past year, police said. The call centre has been in operation since July 2024, and the agreement to run the call centre from Pune from hired premises was signed and executed in Jaipur in Rajasthan, police said. "We are probing why the call centre was in operation in Pune instead of Ahmedabad or Jaipur and why was the entire staff hired from Ahmedabad, Rajasthan, Delhi, Noida, and Kolkata," police said. On how the call centre was sourcing US citizens' data, a senior officer told TOI, "We suspect that some people in the US were selling data to them using the darkweb to avoid monitoring by their govt agencies. We have also seized written scripts handed over to the call centre executives. We are looking for the person or people who wrote them," Shinde said.
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Time of India
All 118 staff named accused in fake call centre case targeting US citizens
Pune: The Pune police named all 118 call centre executives as accused in the Kharadi fake call centre case that was cracked open on Saturday. The crime branch officers are questioning five of those already arrested in the case. Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of the cyber police station said, "We have made all of them accused in the case and served them notices asking them to cooperate with the investigations. These calling agents were aware of their crimes, hence we made them the accused." On Sunday, five teams carried out a raid in Navi Mumbai while another squad is in Ahmedabad in Gujarat on the lookout for the three suspects who ran the call centre and would visit once a fortnight. They have been reported missing. The call centre staff posed as US law enforcement officers and extorted millions of dollars from US citizens using threats of 'digital arrest' in cases of narcotics or other frauds. Police found 123 persons, including 12 women, when they raided the facility. They would rake in 30,000-40,000 USD per day, they added. The case was transferred to Pune city crime branch on Sunday and inspector Ajay Waghmare took over the investigations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo On Saturday, police arrested Sarjitsingh Girawatsingh Shekhawat (26), Abhishekh Ajaykumar Pande (29), Shrimay Paresh Shah (31), Laxman Amarsingh Shekhawat (28), and Aron Arumugan Christian (29), all residents of Kharadi. They are natives of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat and have been staying in Pune for the past year, police said. The call centre has been in operation since July 2024, and the agreement to run the call centre from Pune from hired premises was signed and executed in Jaipur in Rajasthan, police said. "We are probing why the call centre was in operation in Pune instead of Ahmedabad or Jaipur and why was the entire staff hired from Ahmedabad, Rajasthan, Delhi, Noida, and Kolkata," police said. On how the call centre was sourcing US citizens' data, a senior officer told TOI, "We suspect that some people in the US were selling data to them using the darkweb to avoid monitoring by their govt agencies. We have also seized written scripts handed over to the call centre executives. We are looking for the person or people who wrote them," Shinde said.
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Indian Express
Fake call centre busted, police say thousands of US citizens cheated of millions of dollars
Pune city police on Saturday claimed they have busted a fake call centre from where thousands of US citizens have been cheated to the tune of millions of US dollars through 'digital arrest' kind of cyber frauds, in the past one year. Acting of a tip-off, a team of over 150 policemen, led by ACP Ganesh Ingle and senior inspectors Swapnali Shinde, Shabbir Sayyad and Ajay Waghmare raided the call centre located on the ninth floor of the plush Pride Icon project in Kharadi, around 10 pm on Saturday. The police found that as many as 123 staffers, including 12 women and 111 men were working at the alleged illegal call centre under the name of 'Magnatel BPS and Consultants LLP' since July 2024. Details of the company are being investigated. Meanwhile, during the raid that went on for nearly ten hours, police seized 64 laptops, 41 cell phones, four routers, all worth Rs 13.74 lakh, from the spot. Police found suspicious online applications, VPN software and data of lakhs of US citizens in the seized laptops. An FIR in this case was lodged at the Cyber police station on Sunday morning, as per sections 316 (2), 318 (4), 61 (1), 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections of the IT Act. Police said till now they have identified eight persons as prime accused, of whom five have been arrested and a search was on for another three. Police have identified the arrested accused as Sarjitsingh Shekhawat (26) of Jhunjunu, Rajasthan, Abhishek Pande (29), Shrimay Paresh Shah (31) Lakshman Shekhawat and Aaron Christian (29), all from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Police said attempts are on to trace Karan Shekhawat from Rajasthan, Ketan Ramani and one Sanjay More. Besides, police are questioning over a hundred call centre staffers to confirm their role in the cyber scam. Police said legal action would be taken against the staffers depending upon their involvement. During a press conference, joint commissioner of police Ranjankumar Sharma said that a prima-facie probe has revealed that accused persons received data of about one lakh US citizens daily. The fraudsters called these US nationals on their WhatsApp numbers using VPN software and caller mikes. Police said the call centre staffers posing as US security or police officers, threatened the US citizens saying they would be arrested as their Amazon accounts were used for smuggling of drugs. Then to prevent legal action, the Americans were asked to purchase Amazon gift cards, which were further encashed in US dollars and transferred to the call centre racketeers via 'Hawala' routes or cryptocurrency, police said. Asked about the educational background of the accused, DCP (crime) Nikhil Pingle said that the arrested accused and even most of the staffers at the illegal call centre were just 12th pass or less. 'Probe revealed the staffers were given salaries in cash,' he said. Police said the staffers are mainly from northern and North-Eastern states, who can speak English properly with US citizens. A probe is on to confirm how the prime accused thought of and executed the idea of setting up an illegal call centre in Pune for committing international cyber frauds. Police are also probing how over hundred staffers were recruited and trained for cheating the Americans. As of now, police suspect the key accused hired the staffers through trustworthy contacts, on a monthly salary of about Rs 25,000, on conditions that they would not leak out the illegal activities done from the call centre in Pune. Police said one of the key accused took an entire floor inside Pride Icon in Kharadi on a monthly rent of Rs 8 lakh for running the call centre. While the financial transactions, bank accounts and illegal money transfer routes used by the racketeers are being investigated, cops believe a daily turnover of about 30,000 US dollars was happening through the call centre by cheating US citizens. 'The probe is ongoing and the exact volume of the cyber fraud is yet to be known. But it could be millions of dollars. The illegal financial trial is under investigation. The victims who lost their money to the fraudsters may have lodged complaints with the US authorities,' a police officer said. Police are investigating how the illegal call centre was receiving contact numbers of lakhs of US citizens. Police suspect involvement of more persons in the scam. Police also suspect some of the accused have earlier worked with BPOs or other call centres.
Indian Express
25-04-2025
- Indian Express
Firm director loses Rs 6.40 cr to man in the middle cyber attack
In yet another case of a man in the middle cyber attack, the director of a Pune-based private company was duped by online fraudsters to the tune of Rs 6.5 crore through international bank transactions. The victim, who is a 39-year-old resident of NIBM Road in Kondhwa, lodged the first information report (FIR) in this case at the Cyber police station of Pune city police on March 23. Police said the complainant is the director of a company that deals in IT-related work and dry fruits. On March 23, he received a communication from a fraudulent email address, which resembled the genuine email address of a company with which he had been doing business. Police said the fraudulent email communication asked the complainant to make a payment regarding a business deal. Believing this was an authentic communication, the complainant made online payments of 423,203.99 USD (approximately Rs 3.52 crore) and 334,540 USD (approximately Rs 2.87 crore) to bank accounts of two banks in the United States on March 27. Police said that at the time the payment was being made, bank authorities in India contacted the complainant for verification, but he asked them to proceed with the transactions. However, he learned later that he had been cheated. Police said there was a minute difference of one letter between the fraudulent email and genuine email address of the company, to which he was supposed to make a payment regarding a recent almond deal. Under the impression that the communication he received through fraudulent email was related to this deal, he decided to make the payment into the bank accounts, which he did not realise were different from the original bank accounts of the company doing business with him. The victim initially filed a complaint application at the Cyber police station. After verification, an FIR was lodged and a probe was initiated. Police inspector Swapnali Shinde said that investigation was underway. There are international financial transactions. We have communicated with the authorities of the bank based abroad.' Police are also probing the email address used by the cyber fraudsters to communicate with the victim. Modus operandi Police explained that a 'man-in-the-middle' cyber attack starts with the email accounts of either parties involved in a business transaction being hacked. In the communications, the hackers can access detailed information about the ongoing business dealings. The online fraudsters then create an email account closely resembling the participants' mail addresses. In an email from the fake account, the hackers say the original account to which the other party is supposed to make a payment into became non-functional. The hackers then tell them to make the deposit into another bank account that actually belongs to the hackers.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
What is the Man-in-the-Middle cyber attack that cost a Pune businessman Rs 6.49 crore?
In what is believed to be Pune's biggest cyber fraud case to date, a cyber city-based businessman has lost Rs 6.49 crore in a sophisticated 'Man-in-the-Middle' ( MitM ) cyberattack. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack Pakistan suspends Simla pact: What it means & who's affected What is India's defence muscle if it ever has to attack? Can Pakistan afford a full-scale war with India? The victim, a 39-year-old director of a Mohammedwadi-based firm involved in IT services and dry fruit imports, was duped on March 27 after he received what appeared to be a routine payment request from a known business associate. What is a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attack? A MitM attack occurs when a cybercriminal secretly intercepts and possibly alters the communication between two parties who believe they are communicating directly with each other. This type of attack can lead to data theft, impersonation, or financial fraud . GIF89a����!�,D; 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo How the Fraud Unfolded According to cyber police, the director was at his residence in the NIBM Road area when he received an email on his company's official ID, allegedly from a U.S.-based dry fruit exporter with whom he had regular dealings. The email requested a payment of nearly Rs 6.5 crore, which the businessman assumed was for a recent almond consignment. Believing the request was legitimate, he instructed his bank to process the payment. The bank even contacted him for confirmation, which he gave without hesitation. The amount was transferred across five transactions. Live Events However, upon later contacting the U.S. exporter, the businessman was informed that no such payment had been received. A closer examination of the original email revealed that cybercriminals had made two subtle but crucial changes: one letter was altered in the sender's email address, and the bank account number had been modified. 'The victim didn't notice these changes,' said Senior Inspector Swapnali Shinde of the Cyber Police. 'The email looked authentic, and the account details showed only the first few characters of the company's name—enough to fool someone who regularly deals with them.' Shinde added that the firm has two operational divisions—one for IT services and another for importing dry fruits from countries like the U.S. and those in the Middle East. The businessman realized he had been defrauded only on April 17. He then lodged a formal complaint with the city's cyber police on April 23. Ongoing Investigation 'We're currently tracing the accounts to which the money was transferred,' said Shinde. 'The funds were split and moved to multiple bank accounts. Around Rs 3 crore has not yet reached the final recipients. We're doing our best to recover the remaining amount.' Cyber police are urging businesses to double-check email addresses and bank account details before making large transactions, especially when initiated via email.
