Bengaluru police bust cyber crime racket, BPO employees threatened Americans and Canadians with arrest to extort money

HSR Layout police busted a ‘reverse digital arrest’ racket after raiding a BPO company in Bengaluru where 16 trained staff allegedly threatened citizens of US and Canada with drug and money laundering cases before taking money from them on the pretext of helping them. The BPO had been operating for over one year.

Based on credible information, a team of officials raided the call centre and arrested the staff who were trained in online cyber fraud and engaged in a criminal conspiracy to collect information from unsuspecting individuals online.

Briefing the media on October 14, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said that the accused were posing as U.S. enforcement agency officials. The accused, under the pretext of ‘helping’ their victims, would demand money online to ‘settle’ the matter, illegally obtaining large sums of money through cyber crime.

Based on this information, the HSR Layout police registered a suo motu case. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-east Division) directed the HSR Layout Police Station and CEN Police Station, South-east division to investigate.

During the investigation, police visited the BPO. The accused, who are high school and college drop-outs from different parts of India, revealed that they had found job offers on WorkIndia, LinkedIn, and similar websites, which advertised openings in BPOs providing online services to the USA, Canada, and other countries.

The company managers had lured job seekers by promising free accommodation and work opportunities in Bengaluru. They arranged accommodation at HSR Layout and BTM Layout, as well as cab and food facilities.

After three weeks of tele-caller training, employees were instructed to call customers in the USA using U.S. law enforcement names such as ‘U.S. Federal Investigation Service’, ‘U.S. Postal Service Investigation Section’, and some other non-existent agencies.

Through a live server provided by the company, they would speak to victims, accuse them of being involved in criminal cases, show fake police IDs, and demand money in exchange for avoiding ‘arrest’. The defrauded amounts were deposited in the company’s wallets or bank accounts.

When investigators examined the computer systems, they found that the accused were using fake ‘digital arrest scripts’, multiple online calling tools and fake websites to contact U.S. citizens, deceive them, and extort money.

The electronic devices and materials used for the crime were seized, including 41 computer systems (41 monitors, 40 CPUs, 41 mice, 41 keyboards, 41 VGA cables, 82 power cables, 21 LAN cables), 2 attendance registers and 4 script notebooks, 25 mobile phones and ID cards,1 IP device, 4 routers, and 4 modems.

In total, 16 accused from Maharashtra (8), Meghalaya (4), Odisha (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), West Bengal (1), and Gujarat (1) were arrested.

The accused had rented a commercial building and two paying guest accommodation for the last two years. They are suspected of cheating many U.S. citizens of several crores of rupees. The accused staff would be given incentives based on the amount they got from their victims.

Though the police claim that it is one of the biggest international cyber crime rackets busted, the police are yet to get the victims to file complaints to proceed with legal action. This is just a first layer of the racket while the other layers of operators, including the kingpin, are operating from outside the State or country, a senior police officer added.