Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Cyber Crime Police Station, Goa, has busted an illegal call centre operating in South Goa and arrested six persons allegedly involved in an international online fraud targeting citizens in the United States.
Acting on credible information received on July 16, the Cyber Crime Police verified the inputs and conducted a raid at the premises, where they found an illegal call centre being operated by Visvadipsinh Harisingh Jadav (29), a native of Bhavnagar, Gujarat, along with five employees.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vishal Singh (24) of Rajasthan, Himanshu Prajapati (19) of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Trushit Sawant (39) of Raigad, Maharashtra, Mayur Sawant (36), Dhanraj Valera (24) of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, besides the alleged kingpin Jadav.
According to the police, the accused allegedly impersonated loan company agents under the name “Payday” and cheated innocent citizens in the United States by luring them with fake loan offers and promises of instant cash. Victims were allegedly induced to make payments through gift cards, including Apple, Macy’s, Green Dot MoneyPak, Razer Gold and Xbox gift cards.
During the raid, police seized six laptops, six headsets, one TP-Link router and six Apple iPhones. The total value of the seized equipment is estimated at around ₹8 lakh.
The operation was carried out by a team led by PI Deepak Pednekar, PSI Anil Polekar, HC Anay Naik, HC Yogesh Khandeparkar, PC Karol Ibrahim and PC Akshay Verlekar under the overall supervision of SP Cyber Crime Raju Raut Dessai.
The accused were produced before the court for police custody. Further investigation is underway by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Goa.
