Mumbai man held for processing call centre racket payments

A 29-year-old engineer was held by Mumbai Crime Branch on Friday for allegedly handling international payments of a call centre racket that duped United States citizens, an official said.

The official said Akshay Prakash Rahalkar used to work from his Mahim home and process such payments through shell companies established by him in USA, and route the money to India.

The arrest was in connection with a call centre racket busted last week where operators were posing as US IRS and immigration officials and extorting 'fines' from citizens of that country for 'lapses'.

They were also selling narcotics and drugs using an online mechanism, officials had said after the raids. Six people were arrested during the raids.