Kolkata: Bidhannagar Police have busted an illegal international call centre operating from Sector V, seizing Rs 67.78 lakh in cash and multiple electronic devices. The late-night raid on Tuesday took place at Unit No. 10 on the 22nd floor of Imagine Tech Park, following specific intelligence inputs.
The alleged owner of the call centre, Avinash Jaiswal, alias Piyush, was arrested, along with Devender Singh from Behala and Saju Sheikh from Entally. During interrogation, they admitted to running the fraudulent call centre for two to three months. Police have identified seven to eight more individuals linked to the operation and are verifying their details.
According to Sonawane Kuldip Suresh, Deputy Commissioner, Detective Department of Bidhannagar Police, the accused targeted US and other foreign nationals through a fake tech support scam. Using a vast database, they posed as technical support representatives, tricking victims into making payments via gift cards and cryptocurrency. The illicit funds were then routed through multiple countries before being encashed in India.
“We acted on technical inputs and intelligence sources and identified this illegal international call centre in Sector V. A joint raid was conducted on Tuesday night, where we found a fully operational call centre setup,” said DC DD Suresh during a press conference on Wednesday. During the raid, police recovered Rs 58.38 lakh in cash from the call centre’s office. A subsequent search at Jaiswal’s residence in Chinar Park led to the discovery of an additional Rs 9.40 lakh.
Officers also seized 14 Android phones, four additional mobile phones from Jaiswal, six desktop computers, two laptops and a cash counting machine. Investigators found extensive data, including victim details, diallers and transaction records, which are now being analysed. “We are analysing a large amount of data. We have some more leads and based on that, we will conduct further raids,” added Suresh.