HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four persons in connection with an international fake call centre racket that allegedly cheated US nationals of about US$ 27.39 million (`261 crore) through 927 collections between July 2025 and September 2026.
The Hyderabad Zonal Office arrested Harshil Nayanbhai Raval, Jaswant Singh, Chetan Munjal and Pranav Pithadia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday. A special PMLA court in Nampally remanded them to judicial custody. Some of the accused operated from Hyderabad.
The arrests take the number of accused arrested in the case to seven. The ED had earlier arrested Vikas Nimar, Tarachand Nimar and Mohd Irfan Ansari in July and August 2026. They are lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison.
According to the ED, the syndicate used lists containing about 20 lakh US telephone numbers to target residents, many of them elderly. Calls were made from India using auto-dialler servers hosted in Germany and Finland. Callers posed as officials of US agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of the Treasury, and threatened victims with arrest or the seizure of their assets over fictitious financial and criminal investigations.
Victims were coerced into handing over cash and gold to collection agents, sending cash through courier services, transferring money to mule bank accounts or buying gift cards. The syndicate operated organised call centres with employees assigned as dialers, bankers and closers. The ED said its investigation had identified 549 victims and 6,463 US numbers that were called or messaged. The operation involved 397 mule accounts across at least 15 US banks.
The proceeds were routed through companies and accounts in Dubai and Hong Kong, converted into cryptocurrency, including USDT, and transferred to India through hawala and angadia channels. The money was allegedly invested in properties, gold, vehicles and businesses.
The ED said digital evidence included forged identity cards, badges, seizure notices, court orders and other documents purportedly issued by US government agencies. The victims were also subjected to identity theft and bank account takeovers.
The agency had conducted searches at four premises in Patiala, Pune and Chandigarh on September 15, 2026, detecting three operational call centres employing about 220 people.