Ahmedabad Police bust illegal call centre targeting US citizens; 7 held

Ahmedabad: Naroda police have busted an alleged illegal call centre operating from a shop in Hanspura and arrested seven people, including two women, for allegedly targeting US citizens through a loan-settlement fraud.

According to police, the accused posed as bank lawyers and contacted potential victims with offers to settle their loans at reduced amounts. The operation was uncovered following a tip-off, after which police raided a shop on the first floor of Sahitya Arcade.

During the raid, police seized seven laptops, eight mobile phones and other electronic equipment collectively valued at around Rs 2.6 lakh.

Zone 4 DCP Atul Bansal said the accused had allegedly sent bulk messages to nearly 10 lakh people, with more than 200 believed to have been duped so far. The suspected loss was estimated at around $50 to $100 per victim.

The arrested accused have been identified as Jignesh Zalahar, Devang Sapkal, Sushil Tomar, Dev Vaishnav, Imtihehen Charmyard, Priti Patel and Vaishali Vedhani.

Police said Zalahar, who is suspected to be the mastermind, had procured a database containing email addresses of US citizens and distributed the leads among his employees. The accused allegedly used scripted emails while posing as lawyers representing different banks and offered recipients loan settlements at lower amounts.

When a person responded, Zalahar allegedly took over the conversation and convinced the victim to share credit card details, claiming they were required to process a cheaper loan settlement. Police suspect the details were subsequently used to withdraw money from the victims’ accounts.

Investigators said the allegedly stolen funds were routed through multiple vendors. Around 50% of the proceeds was allegedly received by Zalahar in Bitcoin through a crypto wallet. Police further said the accused used Telegram groups to convert the cryptocurrency into Indian currency before collecting the money through angadia channels. DeshGujarat