On Friday, Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch arrested two persons who allegedly cheated thousands of US citizens by offering to remove the virus or malware by installing an anti-virus programme.
According to Mumbai Mirror, the two arrested accused have been identified as David Alphonso (22) and Sandeep Yadav (28). Crime Branch Unit-9 raided Xfinity Call Centre on S V Road in suburban Andheri and seized computers and other equipment used by the accused. During the raid, police found some 40 employees working at the call centre, busy calling US citizens under fictitious names and speaking with American accent. The employees at the call centre allegedly called US citizens and told them that their computer or laptop had a virus or malware. The callers then offered to remove the virus or malware by installing an anti-virus programme.
A senior Crime Branch officer told the leading daily, “The accused launched this call centre seven months ago after stealing data from the office where he worked. He would convince his victims that their laptops were infected in such a manner that their passwords and documents would be leaked. The accused would ask their victims to pay through gift cards to get the malware cleared.” If the person agreed, he or she was asked to pay anything between USD 100 to 700 through digital ‘gift cards’ of online shopping websites. The amount was received in the accused’s bank accounts.
Police arrested owner of the call centre David Alphonso (22) and Santosh Yadav (28), an IT expert, under section 420 of IPC (cheating) and other relevant acts.