Noida: Sixteen people were arrested on Thursday for allegedly targeting foreign nationals through a Noida Sector 16-located fake call centre on the pretext of providing technical support, using online advertisements and social media, officers said.
Based on a tip off and following local intelligence and technical inputs, the Noida’s cybercrime police busted the centre. Police said all 16 suspects are residents of Delhi-National Capital Region and had been running this fraud for a year by changing locations for nearly a year.
“When a person searched for technical support, these paid advertisements displayed contact numbers. Once the victim called, the call would land on the suspects’ system,” said Shavya Goyal, DCP (cybercrime).
The suspects, posing as customer care support representatives of MNCs, allegedly convinced callers that their devices had been hacked or their data had been compromised.
“They would then persuade the caller to download screen-sharing software and grant remote access to their system,” Goyal added.
After gaining access to victims’ devices, they extracted sensitive banking information and carried out financial fraud. To reinforce the fear of hacking, they would black out the victim’s computer screen, making the fraud appear real.
According to the police, to bring the money into India, the suspects used cryptocurrency channels.
Officials said the group followed a structured approach while targeting victims. Smaller amounts ranging between $100 and $500 were siphoned off directly, while cases involving larger payments were escalated to seniors for money extraction.
“Police are investigating the total number of victims. The suspects admitted to committing fraud worth crores of rupees. Information regarding their crypto wallets has been obtained, and a seizure report has been sent. Police are also investigating whether any bank accounts are linked to these crypto wallets so they can be frozen,” DCP Goyal said.
Police recovered 4 laptops, 15 desktops, 15 monitors, 16 mobile phones, and 16 mic-headsets, along with other equipment.
A case has been registered under the BNS sections including for cheating by personation and forgery and the IT ACT, and further investigation is underway, said officials.