Hyderabad: A city-based fake loan racket, that was cheating citizens of US and UK, was busted by Hyderabad police on Thursday. The gang had an international call center and used fake Skype and Yahoo IDs to trap victims. Police said 14 members of the gang were arrested. Four others are absconding.
They promised their victims personal loans but used to collect the first month's repayment as advance and then would block calls from those who were duped. The gang identified themselves as US citizens, and operated from here with US and UK-based landline phone numbers that they purchased.
Police said prime accused Md. Abdul Parvez and Basith Ali worked together as executives at Adroit Web Solutions which lured US and UK citizens promising them personal loans.
After the company was raided in 2012, Basith joined another seedy firm that indulged in cheating clients in a similar way. The firm owner, Numan, purchased data from one Khader who ran a data processing center at Manikonda.
Not satisfied with the profits he got, Basith and Pervez started a fake loan processing center. “They purchased customer data from Gujarat-based Ishan Pathake, who is suspected to be the kingpin. They spent Rs 36 on each lead. The leads consisted of name, date of birth, email ID, address, social security number, bank account number etc.,” said city police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy
Like all call centres, the gang established an office, recruited employees and trained them in US, UK accent and voice processes. “After that they were given English names. Fake Yahoo and Skype IDs were created for them to interact with clients. They also purchased US-based landline numbers,” the commissioner said.
The purchaser provided leads to their team leaders. They used to call US/UK customers over phone directly. If the customer responded they would follow the script, and if the customer didn’t, the team would leave a message on the answering machine saying that the loan was approved.
“If the customer bites, the local caller will ask the customer to pay one-month’s payback as monthly repayment of the loan, using U-Kash or Green Dot card or Moneypak card available at US stores. “The monthly repayment will range from $100 to $300,” the commissioner said.
The organiser would then forward account details to the leads provider, who used to communicate it to the foreign hacker. After encashing the amount, the hacker would deduct his cut and then return the amount to the leads provider, who, in turn, would transfer it to the organiser.
During a vehicle check at Rein Bazaar on Wednesday, police apprehended Ben Hopkins (Abdul Parvez) and Jason Smith (Basith Ali).
They confessed that they were cheating US and UK citizens by offering them loans. The calls, they admitted, were made from Parvez’s residence at Rein Bazaar.
Based on Basith’s confession, Nauman’s office at Tolichowki was raided. Based on Nauman’s confession, Khader was nabbed from OU Colony.
Khader admitted that he was running a processing center with Waseer, Waseem and Saud as employees. Khader also admitted that he purchased leads from Gujarat-based Ishanth.
Based on information from Khader, cops raided an office at Topaz building in Punjagutta and arrested Abdullah. Abdullah confessed that he owned AB Solutions which was into credit card and ICICI Bank loan processes and also fake loan processing. Cops arrested two team leaders, Salam and Intiyaz, along with their staffers Naushad, Junaid and Raviteja.
A laptop, a desktop system, and five headphones were seized from them. Police said four others involved in the racket were absconding.
