A Belagavi-based gang ran a full-scale cyber-fraud operation under the guise of a call centre. Targeting US citizens, they impersonated federal officials and used dark-web data. Police raids exposed the racket, which duped victims of lakhs of dollars.
A major cyber-fraud racket operating out of Belagavi, Karnataka and targeting US citizens has been busted by the Belagavi City Cyber Police. The gang, described as a dangerous network that left American citizens shaken, had allegedly duped victims of lakhs of dollars while operating from a rented hall in Azam Nagar.
As per the police, the gang took permission to run a call centre but were operating a full-fledged cyber-fraud network. Based on credible information, police conducted raids and uncovered the scam that had been active since March. The arrested individuals are from Gujarat and West Bengal.
The premises belonged to Ijaz Khan, who had rented the space to the group. Police say the gang was attempting to turn Belagavi into a new “Jamtara”, a hub of cyber fraud.
Over 37 laptops and 37 mobile phones were seized from the accused, and have been sent for forensic analysis.
“We received a tip-off from the Karnataka Internal Security Division and also an anonymous letter. Based on that, we carried out the raids. Initially, we thought Indians were being targeted, but the investigation revealed they were targeting foreigners,” Borase Bhushan Gulabrao, Commissioner, Belagavi City Police said.
During the investigation, police found that the accused were calling nearly 100 people a day and their primary targets were senior citizens in the US. Using numbers sourced from the dark web, the fraudsters called victims claiming a parcel had arrived in their name.
When victims denied sending any parcel, they were given another number to “cancel” it. Once the victim called that number, the scammers manipulated them, impersonated officials from the Federal Trade Commission, and extorted money through at least 11 scripted stories.
Police also revealed that each member of the gang made a minimum of 100 calls a day and managed to cheat 2 to 10 people from those leads. The criminals used VPN and VoIP services to make these calls.
“Once the investigation is completed, we will be able to unearth the entire network. We suspect a huge network and believe more people are involved in this,” Borase Bhushan Gulabrao said.
An FIR has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Belagavi City Cyber Police Station, and further investigations are underway.
