Lucknow: Two Class VI dropouts allegedly masterminded a sophisticated international cyber fraud racket from a luxury apartment in Lucknow, cheating more than 100 US citizens of nearly Rs 50 crore over the past two months by operating a fake customer support centre.Police busted the racket on Friday and arrested seven people.The arrests, made under Operation CYVAJRA, exposed an illegal international call centre functioning from a flat in an apartment in Sushant Golf City.Police said the racket specifically targeted US citizens through fake technical support calls, forged govt documents and identity theft scams.Investigators identified the accused as Puneet Kumar Verma, 34, a Class VI dropout from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and Dipen Chandrakant Patel, 41, a Class X pass from Ahmedabad.Police said Puneet, despite his limited formal education, allegedly ran the entire customer support operation along with Dipen, recruiting English-speaking employees from different states to impersonate executives of a software giant and US federal officials.Police said the syndicate was operating from Lucknow for nearly two months, during which it allegedly defrauded more than 100 US citizens and generated illegal proceeds estimated at around Rs 50 crore.The raid was conducted by deputy commissioner of police, crime, Anil Kumar, and ADCP, crime, Kiran Yadav.Kiran Yadav said that the fraud began with malware that generated fake virus alerts on victims’ computers based in the United States.“The pop-up displayed a toll-free customer support number, prompting victims to contact the accused, who posed as technical support executives of the software company. The accused informed victims that their computers had been compromised and connected them to another team impersonating officials of the US Federal Trade Commission and cyber security agencies,” said the officer.They told victims that their social security numbers or bank accounts had been linked to serious crimes and threatened them with arrest unless they cooperated.The accused allegedly emailed forged identity theft reports, FTC letters, investigation reports, fake court orders and non-disclosure agreements to make the fraud appear genuine.The ADCP said the fraudsters used software to remotely access computers of victims and persuaded them to buy gift cards, share redemption codes or, in high-value cases, send cash parcels or gold through associates in the United States. The proceeds were allegedly routed through gift cards, digital vouchers and cryptocurrency.Police seized eight laptops, nine mobile phones, nine headsets, four Wi-Fi routers and other electronic equipment, besides VoIP calling software, calling scripts, databases of foreign nationals, forged documents and other digital evidence.Apart from Puneet and Dipen, those arrested include Mohammad Sohel, 29, Mohammad Shah Nawaz Alam, 29, Mohammad Imran, 26, Mohammad Riyaz, 35, and Sajjad Hussain alias Sarfaraz, 27, all originally from West Bengal.
