Call centre scam probe hampered

Mumbai: A fortnight after the Thane police busted a call centre racket in Ambernath, investigators are struggling to get victims’ testimonies, which is hampering the probe.

The accused duped the Indian and US nationals by asking them to pay a processing fee for facilitating easy bank loans and government grants. The police does not have a single testimony of any of the victims, and so it is planning to set up a helpline, which the US and Indian nationals can access to get in touch with the investigators for recording the testimonies, said sources.

The statements of the victims will be key to building a strong case against the fraudulent call centre’s operators and the absconding mastermind, said a senior police officer. The Thane police has in the past set up a helpline to probe a case. The police received around 100 statements of US victims last year after it set up a helpline to probe the Mira-Road call centre scam.

The Thane police had raided a call centre Mount Logic Solutions in Ambernath’s Anand Nagar on June 10, which allegedly duped Americans by offering them loans. The call centre would extract money in the form of commission or processing fee.

The police has taken around 25 employees of the call centre into the custody for questioning and seized 31 hard disks, three laptops and several documents during the raid, said an officer from Thane police.

According to the Thane police officer, though they have call recordings of the complainants, no one has come forward to record the statement or sent an email. Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) crime Abhishek Trimukhe said, “We haven’t received any complaint from any person about the modus operandi of the call centre.”

An official said, “We are tracking down victims in the US. We have even emailed the victims after we found their email ids but no one has responded. The police has learnt that the callers, who duped the victims by offering them loans, would also send them an email with a ‘debt restructuring plan’ to gain their trust. We need to receive complaints to build a strong case. We are planning to set a helpline and circulate an email id to alert and approach the victims.” The call centre is owned by Jaya Gunjal, who earned Rs 7 to Rs 8 lakh per month.

Past incident

The Thane police busted a major call centre scam in Mira road last year in August. The call centre employees allegedly duped the US nationals of crores of rupees. Several US citizens filed complaints with the investigators. The Thane police control room received calls from 109 US nationals, complaining about the call centre fraud. The police had asked all these victims to send their complaint with all the relevant details via e-mail to the Thane police’s official email id.

Case timeline

• June 10, 2017: The Thane police busted a call centre scam in Ambernath’s Anand Nagar.
• June 11: The police has arrested more than 25 members of the call centre.
• June 13: The Thane police has found an email trail, which could help them identify
• victims and record their statements.