A trainee caller, an HR official, a floor manager, and an ‘executor’, involved in Mira Road call centre scam, tell mid-day how they conned thousands of US citizens in the guise of IRS officials
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The Thane police, which busted an international racket being run from a Mira Road call centre that placed calls to US citizens posing as IRS officials, said several of those arrested are college dropouts or unemployed youths, who stayed in the job for the handsome salary.
The accused who were arrested in the Mira Road call centre scam were produced in Thane Sessions court and remanded till Oct 10
All the arrested were produced in Thane sessions court yesterday and remanded in police custody till October 10. “The 72 arrested include two women and two minors, who have been sent to remand home. The minors age had been given as 19 earlier, but their advocates produced their birth certificates, saying the main accused had told them to give their age as 19 in case of any trouble,” said Nitin Thakre, Senior Police Inspector, Thane Crime Branch.
Also Read: Mira Road call centre raids: Accused are 20-somethings, know English, can use computers, say cops
“Many family members approached us saying their son or brother is innocent. We showed them the script copy that itself starts with ‘I am an IRS officer speaking’... That itself is cheating. The victims used to cry on phone, begging that they be spared. But the callers would threaten that if they cut the call a case would be registered and an officer would be dispatched to arrest them.”
Victims come out
Commissioner of Police, Thane, Parambir Singh said some of the victims have started approaching them. “An Indian in California approached us, claiming that he was cheated of $2,050. Also, a few agencies have approached us, asking whom to approach if they have been cheated. We have passed on the relevant numbers and email addresses,” he added, saying that a team of 200 crime branch officers is investigating the case.