'Scam call centres national threat,' Guwahati CP after 8 scam call centres busted

In a massive crackdown on the scam call centres, which were operating out of Guwahati, the Cyber Police on Thursday and Friday nabbed 52 people in multiple raids and sealed eight scam call centres or fake customer service centres. These centres were operating from different locations in the city. 

Republic Media Network brings you an exclusive insight into the crackdown and the operational structure of these scam call centres/ fake customer service centres as informed by the Police Commissioner of Guwahati Diganta Borah. 

The case

Earlier this month, the Guwahati City Police received information that a few gangs of scammers were operating out of Guwahati. Based on this initial input, a thorough enquiry was conducted in a very confidential manner. During this operation, the masterminds behind were identified. Following this, multiple teams of police carried out simultaneous raids at eight locations in Guwahati on the intervening night of September 14 and 15. During these raids, eight such scam call centres were busted and 52 persons were arrested under section 120(B)/419/420/385/467/468/471/507 of IPC. 

How do they scam?

The so-called customer support executives impersonating Tech Support Staff, spam the computers of gullible Indians and foreign nationals through pop-ups. The pop-ups generally indicate a virus or malware on the device. If someone falls prey to these pop-ups, they generally search on the Internet for a solution and land on a number of call centres promising tech support. Once the caller makes the call, it automatically lands in one such call centre. The so-called tech support staff mislead the unsuspecting caller about malware and the threat it poses. They lead the customer to buy a product by making various false claims to create a sense of urgency or fear that his or her bank account has been compromised or their social media account has been hacked. 

Further, this gang of scammers initiate contact through unsolicited phone calls, claiming to be from a well-known company or organization such as a bank etc. They ask the victims to install remote desktop software and thereby take access to the victim's personal computers and thereafter steal personal information by planting malware on the targeted victim's device. 

The scammers open fake toll-free numbers where if dialled by anyone, the call lands in one of the call centers operated by the scammers. For example, someone calling from California is speaking to a scammer sitting in Guwahati and he is completely unaware of what awaits him. 

The money trail 

When a victim buys a product, the payments are mostly accepted in Bitcoin or as gift vouchers. Once the payment is made, the 'banker', a person close to the owner, takes the payment and cuts the call. Interestingly, the executive transfers the call to the banker when the victim agrees to buy the product. All these Bitcoins and gift vouchers are encashed or redeemed into Indian rupees with the help of international hawala gangs. Some of these international gangs are operating from foreign soil. Hard cash comes from outside the state to run these call centres in Guwahati. Payments to the employees are also made in cash through hawala channels. 

Threat to national security? 

These call centers are in a way running an illegal Internet-based telephone exchange for making international calls, which is a cause of national security. Moreover, terror links to the Hawala modules used for the purpose of running such call centres cannot be ruled out. 

The raid 

As mentioned earlier, based on inputs, a covert operation was planned. The raid was carried out at eight locations simultaneously and 191 people were detained, out of which 52 were arrested and the rest were let go after serving notice under section 41-A of CrPC. 

They have been asked not to leave Guwahati. The masterminds arrested have been identified as Debajyoti Dey aka David from Karimganj, Rajan Sidana from Ludhiana, Punjab and Divyam Arora from Delhi. Around 164 desktops, 90 laptops, 26 mobiles and other electronic gadgets have been seized.