The police have arrested 18 people for allegedly operating an illegal call centre at the Porvorim village on the outskirts of Panaji and duping several Americans, an official said.
A senior police officer said the kingpins of the racket, a couple identified as Sagar Mehtani and his wife Bansari Tanavani - are based out of the United States.
The Goa police's Crime Branch raided a bungalow in Porvorim village on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday and arrested 18 people, who were found to be running the fake call centre, he said.
As per initial investigations, the accused were procuring personal details of US citizens through applications they submitted to obtain various types of loans in their home country, the official said.
"The accused were calling them through Google Voice application on their phones and laptops by posing as the staff of an e-loan company or Merchant Cash Advance Company under the pretext of disbursing loans to them," he said.
The officer said the bogus call centre operators would persuade their victims to avail of the loans as per requirements by paying processing fees/security deposits amounting to 10 per cent of the credit size.
"The accused were directing customers to pay the amount online through Google Pay/Apple Pay/Walmart/Target gift cards," he said, adding that the accused would redeem the gift cards and receive the cash amount in the bank accounts of their agents in the US.
The duped amount was then transferred by the agents in the US to the key accused, Sagar Mehtani, through hawala channels in India, he said.
"Sagar Mehtani and his wife Bansari Tanavani are the main accused and were operating the fake call centre," said the official.
The police said the accused have been charged under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act.
from NDTV News-India-news https://ift.tt/l6sqvBp
No comments:
Post a Comment