03 February,2023 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Samiullah Khan
Accused would use VoIP calls to contact victims. Representation pic
The Bangur Nagar police have busted a fake call centre from where a gang duped Indian and foreign nationals with investment schemes by claiming to be a UK-based company. They would introduce themselves as experts in forex, currency and commodity trading, said sources.
The cops said they acted on a tip-off about Cielox Business Solutions LLP at Chincholi Bunder, Malad West. Under the supervision of Senior Inspector Pramod Tavde, Inspector Jayent Shinde, Assistant Inspector Yogesh Ramekar, Gyaneshwar Pawar, Sub-Inspector Piyush Tare and others raided the office on the third floor of Aditya Estate, near Evershine Mall, on Wednesday evening.
They detained the manager and four employees and seized eight computer systems, hard discs and pen drives. The police have booked Pillai and the two owners - Shehzad Maqbool Chaudhary, 32, and Zakir Husain Sayyed, 34 - who are at large. Later, they arrested the manager, Rajesh Jaish Pillai, 28. A court on Thursday sent Pillai to police custody.
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The accused told the cops that they took people's money by claiming to invest their money in shares, commodities and forex trading and guaranteeing high-value returns. They have no authorised documents and licences to deal in such businesses, police said.
"Upon checking the data and after interrogating the employees, we learnt that they were hired to call people using VoIP call service and get them to invest their money. Seeing the national code of their country, people would easily fall into their trap
and invest for high returns," said a cop requesting anonymity.
"The accused used to lure victims into investing $200 initially, and then increase the amount to $1,000 and $2,000. They would send their victims a web link to log in and monitor the profit, which they would manipulate," the cop added.
The victims, who had invested Rs 2 lakh or above, would see on the link a profit of Rs 20-Rs 40 lakh within two months and contact the accused to withdraw the money, cops said. Instead of giving investors the profit amount, the accused would take from them anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 6 lakh in the name of processing fees and taxes, and disappear later. They made Rs 20 lakh by duping many, as per the records with the police.
Further investigation is on to find out the details of foreign nationals whom they duped, said cops. The owners and the manager have prior experience working at call centres, they added.
Rs 20l
Amount they have stolen so far, as per cops
