Delhi: Illegal call centre to threaten US citizens and force them to pay in bitcoins busted, 42 held

The Delhi Police has arrested 42 persons from an illegal call centre from West Delhi’s Peeragarhi area. The police have also seized more than ninety digital devices and recovered Rs 4.5 lakhs in cash, ANI reported today.

The accused used to threaten foreign nationals, mostly from the US and other countries, with legal action and forced them to transfer money in the form of Bitcoins.

In a similar incident, a total of 54 people (forty five men and nine women) were arrested from Delhi’s Moti Nagar area for allegedly running a fake call centre and duping foreign nations to the tune of Rs 100 crore by posing as law enforcement officers.

According to a senior police official of the cybercrime unit, the accused, who posed themselves as officials from Social Security Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Marshals Service etc., had duped more than 4,500 people and the call centre’s operations were managed from Dubai. The accused have also threatened the victims with immediate arrest. The police have also seized 89 desktops and servers from the site.

In November 2019, Noida police arrested 45 people for allegedly running a fake call centre in Noida’s sector 6 and sector 7. The accused duped the people by offering fake discounts and cashbacks for online shopping. The accused are mostly residents of Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad.