BHUBANESWAR : Cyber Crime and Economic Offense police on Wednesday arrested six West Bengal natives for allegedly running a fake call center in the city to commit cyber fraud and make quick money.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided an apartment in the Sundarpada area and arrested the six accused: Sameer Mobin (26), MD Javed Hussain (26), MD Tosif (23), Alam (24), Shoaib Raza (22), and MD Haider Ali (34), all residents of Kolkata.
Initial investigations revealed that the accused had been operating a fake call center in Sundarpada for the last two months. They sent several phishing emails to citizens of the United States and other countries who had subscribed to Norton and McAfee antivirus software, impersonating employees of the two companies.
In the emails, the accused informed unsuspecting victims that their antivirus subscriptions were about to expire and provided a toll-free number to contact them. Once they received calls from the victims, they conned them by claiming that their antivirus subscriptions had been renewed and demanded gift cards as payment.
The accused then converted the gift cards into Indian currency and collected the ill-gotten money. “Six laptops, 11 mobile phones, Wi-Fi equipment, routers, and other incriminating articles were seized from them. Further investigation is underway,” said DCP Pinak Mishra.
Sources indicate that the accused were also sending phishing emails to Indian customers of the two antivirus software companies.