Fake call centre: Uttarakhand STF to write to ED to probe money laundering angle

Expanding its horizon of investigation, the special task force (STF) of the Uttarakhand police will write to the enforcement directorate (ED) on Monday to probe the money laundering and hawala angle in the international fake call centre case, senior superintendent of police (STF) Ajay Singh said on Sunday.

On Thursday, STF along with cyber police busted the illegally operating “international call centre” located in a three-storey building in front of MKP Chowk in Dehradun and recovered a total of ₹1.26 crore in cash.

“With the recovery of a large amount of cash and detection of foreign transactions, we can’t deny the money laundering and hawala angle in the case. In this regard, we will write to the ED on Monday, “ he said.

“Every aspect is being looked into. Involvement of foreign agents as a threat to the country’s internal security is also being considered as a part of the investigation,” the police officer added.

STF has already written to Microsoft Corp over data theft and breach in the case, officials said.

Meanwhile, the sales tax department has also been informed about the registration of the company running the fake call centre, A to Z Solutions, and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion, they said.

“It has come to light that operators of the fake call centre worked in the temporary call centre run by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation and other government agencies during the Covid period,” said a police official not wishing to be named.

He said the agencies and officials concerned will also be quizzed to get key information about the accused and their illegal operations.

The operators of the fake call centre posed as a support system of Microsoft and provided services like laptop repairing to foreign nationals by issuing fake helpline numbers through a dialler software and received money through QR Code, the police said.

Apart from ₹1.26 crore in cash, 245 laptops and 61 desktop computers were also seized, police added.

The police also questioned more than 300 people working at the centre, said a police official.

Initially, the police arrested three people and issued notice to 11 people. However, those who were issued notices failed to give satisfactory response following which we arrested them, he said.

On Friday, all 14 accused were produced in a court and sent to jail.