Fake call centre duping British citizens busted in Gujarat

RAJKOT: A fake call centre conning British citizens was busted at Moti Barar village in Morbi district on Wednesday night.
The gang chose a village to operate the call centre as several such operations have been busted in Ahmedabad and Rajkot in the past.
Cops from Maliya Miyana police station had received information about the call centre being operated from a two-storey building behind a petrol pump in the village.On raiding the place, nine persons were found working at the call centre. All nine are residents of Ahmedabad.
Police said that Vikas Tyagi is the kingpin while the eight others identified as Miresh Shah, Jitu George, Narendrasinh Rathod, Umesh Hiranandani, Rajesh Topno, Akash Rawal, Kaushal Patel and Reema Solanki used to talk to victims in the UK
Using a software called eyeBeam, they used to randomly send text messages to people stating that their tax payment is outstanding and legal action will be taken against them. The message also used to carry a phone number asking them to call if the wanted to avoid legal hassles. When the victims called, they used to talk to them as per a script given to them. The panicked victims used to make payments believing it to be tax payments in a bank account in the UK. Later, the money used to be transferred to an account in Indian banks.
“All nine accused have been arrested for cheating, criminal conspiracy and under Information Technology Act. We are interrogating them about how many people have they targeted and how much money they have made,” said sub-inspector N G Chudasama. Their bank accounts have been seized along with nine laptops, three mobile phones and an internet server.