Noida call centre dupes US citizens of ₹50 crore, 84 arrested

Posing as personnel of the United States Social Security Administration (SSA), at least 84 executives working at a call centre in Noida allegedly duped over 2,000 US citizens to the tune of ₹50 crore over the past four months, Gautam Budh Nagar police said on Thursday.

In the United States, a social security number (SSN) is a nine digit number issued to its citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents.

Following a search and survey operation on Wednesday night, the police arrested 84 people and recovered incriminating electronic evidence and documents, police said.

During inquiry, it was found that the suspects would dupe the Americans by making them believe that their social security number has been compromised, following which the victims would follow the steps as told by the suspects and end up losing the money in their bank accounts, said officials.

Harish Chander, deputy commissioner of police, Noida, said the local police received a tip-off regarding the illegal call centre being run from a rented premises in Sector 6, Noida.

“Following the tip-off, the office was searched on Wednesday around 1am, and 84 people who were found working there were arrested. As many as 150 computer sets equipped with TFT (thin film transistors), 13 mobile phones, a large server with router, ₹20,000 cash, 42 printouts of the spoken script and a Creta car were seized from the suspects,” said the officer, adding that the US embassy has also been informed about the case, while formal communication with the FBI and Interpol is being established.

“Two other prime suspects involved in running the call centre, identified as Yogesh Pujari and Harshit, are on the run,” Chander said.

Of the 84 people arrested, 46 are men and 38 women, all natives of north-eastern states, said police.

“The hiring of these people was done by the prime suspects through word-of-mouth. A majority of the suspects belong to the north-eastern states. It is suspected that the reason behind hiring them is because their English accent is more western than Indian,” said Shakti Avasthy, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.

Elaborating on the modus operandi of the gang, he said the database of 400,000 US citizens was procured by the prime suspects from the dark web.

“Voicemails were sent to these contact numbers using open-source dialer software called VICIDIAL and Xlite/eyeBeam, through an interactive voice response, or IVR system which stated that the person’s SSN has been compromised,” said Avasthy.

In the voicemail, the suspects claimed themselves to be from the United States social security administration, and said, “Your SSN is being seized as its involvement has been found in some criminal activities. In case you want to verify the claims, please call back on the helpline number.”

“While most would ignore the voice message, several would call on the fake helpline number. Following this, the call landed to the executives at the Noida call centre. These executives were provided a fixed script to be read out to the victims in order to instil fear in them that their SSN number is being seized. The victims would then follow the instructions told to them,” said the Avasthy

Once trapped, the gang would tell the gullible that they can take the help of US Marshals to get rid of the problem. If people agreed, they were put in touch with executives pretending to be US Marshal, he added.

“Eventually, the US citizens were asked to make payments in online transfers, through coupon cards of Apple or Walmart, or through cryptocurrency like Bitcoin,” the police officer said.

Once the payment was made, the suspects would siphon off the money, transferring them to their own bank accounts. “We have not yet found the bank account details of the prime suspects in the case. It is being worked out,” said Avasthy.

“The suspects, so far, have duped approximately 2,000 US citizens of an amount equivalent to ₹50 crore,” said Avasthy. He said the suspects have been booked under sections of cheating and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the IT Act.