The arrested were identified as Yepuri Ganesh, and Marampudu Chenna Keshava, both from Khammam district and the rest were telecallers.
Hyderabad:Nine persons were arrested for allegedly running a fake call centre which scammed Australian citizens of between Rs 8 crore and Rs 10 crore, Cyberabad cybercrime DCP Y.V.S. Sudheendra said on Saturday.
The Cyberabad special operations team (SOT) Balanagar, along with the cybercrime police raided the fake call centre operating under the name of Ridge IT Solutions at Ayyappa Society in Madhapur. Around 12 computers were seized during the operation, the DCP said at a press meet.
The arrested were identified as Yepuri Ganesh, and Marampudu Chenna Keshava, both from Khammam district and the rest were telecallers.
Police said the prime organisers, cousins Praveen and Prakash from Khammam district, set up Ridge IT Solutions in 2024 as a front to run an international cyber fraud racket. They allegedly brought seven telecallers from Kolkata to Hyderabad, housed them in Madhapur and trained them to cheat Australian nationals over the phone.
“They trained them to talk in an Australian accent and made them commit all kinds of frauds, and mainly job frauds,” the DCP revealed. The duo is yet to be arrested. Ganesh and Keshava managed day-to-day office operations and coordinated the stay and movement of the Kolkata-based staff, police said.
According to police, another unidentified group first sent fake pop-ups and emails to Australian citizens, falsely warning that their computers had been compromised and displaying a “customer care” number. When the victims called, the calls were routed through the X-Lite application to the Madhapur call centre, where the accused posed as technical support staff.
Using AnyDesk, they allegedly took remote access to victims' computers, logged into their internet banking accounts and transferred large sums into Australian bank accounts belonging to Indian nationals living in Australia. The money was then moved to India through hawala, cryptocurrency and other covert channels. Over the past two years, the network is suspected to have routed up to `10 crore in this manner.
“These accounts belonged to Indian citizens returning from Australia after their education or after not getting a job. They identified such people and purchased their bank accounts. We are investigating whether these Indian citizens have played a role here. For now, no cases have been booked against them,” the DCP revealed.
During the raid, officers found details of 45 Australian bank accounts saved in a mobile phone at the office and suspect that “hundreds” of such accounts may have been misused.
Police appealed to Indian students and NRIs abroad not to sell or share their foreign bank accounts, warning that such accounts are often used for cyber fraud and money laundering. Citizens have been requested to report information on fake call centres or cyber scams to the 1930 helpline or the Cyberabad WhatsApp number 9490617444, assuring that their identity will be kept confidential.
