NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, July 25 -- In a big crackdown on transnational cybercrime, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a large-scale cyber fraud and financial crime syndicate based out of Pune and Mumbai.

The syndicate was cheating foreign nationals-especially US nationals-by making phishing calls, impersonating, and committing financial fraud.

The CBI filed a case on July 24, against four private citizens and unidentified public officials of different banks for allegedly operating an illicit call centre since January.

The call centre was utilised to implement a well-planned criminal conspiracy to cheat American citizens.

The scammers impersonated federal government officials in the United States, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and even the Indian High Commission. The victims were intimidated with prosecution and forced to pay up from USD 500 to USD 3,000 in gift cards and Bitcoin payments.

The illegal call centre, hidden in residential apartments in Pune, used spoofed VoIP-based calls and obtained contact leads illegally through messaging applications like WhatsApp and Signal. Toll-free numbers were created and distributed to trap unsuspecting victims and lead them to the scam centre.

Initial investigation suggests that the syndicate laundered proceeds of Rs 3-4 crore every month using cryptocurrency, mule accounts, and hawala channels. Some bank officials, both in the public and private sectors, have been suspected of making false accounts open in collusion using fraudulent KYC documents, defying RBI regulations.

CBI raided seven locations in Pune and Mumbai on 24 and 25 July. Officials recovered 27 mobile phones, 17 laptops, Rs 11.2 lakh of unaccounted money, about 150 grams of suspected drugs, and cryptocurrency worth Rs 6.94 lakh from the wallet of one of the accused during the raid.

Three private individuals were arrested, identified as Amit Dube, Tarun Shenai, and M Gonsalves Savio.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.