Ahmedabad: The city cybercrime police on Saturday uncovered an illegal call centre allegedly used to defraud Canadian citizens and arrested four persons involved in the racket.

According to a complaint lodged by PSI Y. V. Solanki of the Cybercrime police station, officers received late-night inputs about a group operating a fake call centre from a flat located on New CG Road in Chandkheda. Acting on the tip-off, a police team raided the flat in Sopan Heights.

Officials said the team first contacted the occupant of the flat and then proceeded to the upper floor, where four men were found sitting on a bed using laptops, mobile phones and headsets while making calls.

During the search, police recovered six laptops, five mobile phones, four headsets and a keyboard believed to have been used in the fraud. As per police, a technical check of the laptops revealed the use of Eyebeam calling software, which allows internet-based international calling. The accused allegedly impersonated officials of the Canada Revenue Agency and used voice-over-IP services along with prepared scripts to contact Canadian citizens.

Police said the callers gained the victims’ confidence by claiming suspicious activity had been detected in their bank accounts or tax-free savings accounts. They warned of possible identity theft and persuaded victims to transfer money through gift card vouchers on the pretext of securing their accounts. Investigators added that the accused also collected personal details such as names, addresses and postal codes of the victims.

The probe further revealed that the racket was allegedly masterminded by Falgun Patel, who is currently absconding along with his associate Shivang Dashmana. Investigators said Patel was operating a network of call centres from different locations and used to hire employees on a monthly salary of ₹20,000 along with performance-based incentives.

Police said those arrested include Kush Shaileshbhai Patel (29) of Chandkheda, Harsh Sumanbhai Patel (28) of Ghatlodia, Ashu Pravinbhai Patel (29) of Naranpura, and Sunil Kamalsingh Rawat (28) of Usmanpura. Officials added that Harsh had earlier been arrested in 2025 for running a similar illegal call centre in Udaipur, while Sunil has admitted to operating an illegal call centre in Chandigarh along with Falgun Patel.

Electronic equipment worth around ₹1.87 lakh has been seized for forensic examination. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, and further investigation is underway to trace other persons linked to the operation. DeshGujarat