The Mumbai crime branch arrested 29-year-old Sabina Anna Swami on Thursday, the 10th accused in the Andheri fake call centre case. According to police, Swami, a resident of Goregaon, was the founder of the fake call centre.

Police have seized a luxury car in the case which the main accused David Alphonso, 22, had gifted his girlfriend 22-year-old Arti Saxena who is also an accused in the case and was arrested on March 25.

“During the inquiry, we learned that Saxena sold her car to a businessman in Andheri on March 13. We have seized the car as it was bought with money earned by duping hundreds of Americans,” said a crime branch officer.

A team from Unit 9 raided a building at Andheri (West) in September last year and busted a racket of two fake call centres knowns as ‘Xfinity’ and ‘Innovation 360’. Police seized electronic equipment, Rs 70,000 and 22 debit and credit cards. They also arrested Alphonso at the time. Alphonso along with the others accused made calls to people in the United States of America claiming to be their internet service providers. They would claim that the victims’ computers had been infected by a virus and then charge them between $500 to $1,000 each to debug the computers.

During the inquiry, police learned that Saxena and Swami’s bank accounts were used in the fake call centre business and both were partners in the firm. Saxena was on run for six months and had applied for anticipatory bail in Bombay high court but it was rejected so she surrendered at Esplanade court on March 25. The court staff then informed the crime branch she was arrested.

Along with Alphonso, Swami and Saxena, police have also arrested Sandeep Yadav, 28, Bipin Shahu alias Gupta, 28, Dale Jacinto, 23, Shadab Shaikh, 20, Taufiq Shaikh, 25, Amir Shaikh, 23, Shashikant Gada, 57.

First Published: Mar 29, 2019 11:45 IST