Call centre scam: FBI collects information from Thane police

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be helping the Thane police trace the money trail in the call centre scam. Two officers from the US-based investigation agency visited Thane police commissioner Parambir Singh on Friday. The officers also collected documents related to the alleged mastermind Shahagir Thakkar.

“The FBI officers, including assistant legal attache Sohil Daud, told us they would help us probe the money trail. We handed them documents about the investigation that would help them run a parallel probe, but not interfere with our investigation,” said Mr Singh.

“Two FBI officers reached the Thane police commissioner’s office early on Friday. They collected details of the scam’s victims, list of accused residing and operating from the US and other evidence. The officers also collected documents related to main accused Shahagir Thakkar alias Sagar/Shaggy,” said a police source.

A few days after the financial scam broke out, the FBI had contacted the Thane police, as a majority of the victims were US citizens. The scam has till date led to the arrest of 72 people, including employees of the call centre on Mira road and the alleged team leaders who trained them to pose as officials from the Internal Revenue Services.