ED Arrests Four In $27m Call-Centre Fraud
The gang had operated a fraudulent call centre in Madhapur: Reports
HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four persons in an international forgery racket that allegedly defrauded several US citizens through call centres in Hyderabad and Punjab. The accused — Harshil Nayanbhai Raval, Jaswant Singh, Chetan Munjal and Pranav Pithadia — were arrested in Patiala and brought to Hyderabad.
The gang had operated a fraudulent call centre in Madhapur before shifting to Patiala following police raids, the ED said. It allegedly targeted US citizens, committing fraud and laundering the proceeds.
The four were produced before the special PMLA court in Nampally on Wednesday, and remanded to ED custody. They were arrested on Tuesday under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Vikas Nimar was arrested on July 27, Tarachand Nimar on August 5 and Imran Asgari on October 10. All three are lodged in Chanchalguda Central Jail. The ED said the latest arrests bring the number of accused arrested in the case to seven.
Investigators found that the gang channelled the money it collected into real estate, gold, vehicles and various businesses. The alleged proceeds total Rs 261 crore, equivalent to $27.39 million.
On September 15, the ED searched four locations in Patiala, Pune and Chandigarh under Section 17 of the PMLA. Two call centres were found in Patiala and one in Pune, with about 220 people working across the centres.
Forensic examination of 79 digital devices has been completed. Investigators found call-centre chats, ledgers, call data, victim details and cryptocurrency wallets. They also seized forged government documents and fake identity cards.
The gang allegedly bought about two million US telephone numbers, along with the individuals’ names, addresses and ages. Many belonged to elderly people. The data was uploaded to auto-diallers hosted on servers in Germany and Finland.
So far, investigators have identified 549 victims, many born in the 1940s. Calls or messages were made to 6,463 US phone numbers, the ED said. Further investigation is underway.