The Telangana police have busted a fake call centre to dupe people in India and the United States in the guise of offering credit card and digital payment support and arrested nine persons.
The police seized 22 mobile phones, 10 laptops, several headsets and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) equipment.
Telangana police seize phones, laptops and VoIP equipment in a raid on a villa, which housed a fake call centre, in Hyderabad on Saturday.
All the accused hail from Kolkata. They claimed that they were lured into this scam with promises of high salaries and commissions, and free accommodation.
The accused were running the call centres out of a rented villa in Bachupally in the city.
They would claim to be representatives from reputed payment platforms and financial institutions such as PayPal, Geek Squad and credit card companies.
“There are some other accused who are absconding. We will nab them,” the police said.
Modus operandi
Victims would be lured into making calls through phishing emails. When they called, the accused would convince them that they had been wrongly charged for a fraudulent transaction. They will be prompted to provide access to their computers via remote accessing tools such as AnyDesk. Using the access, they will cull out financial details, including bank transaction histories and account credentials.
They would even threaten with fake claims of criminal action such as drug trafficking, nude photo leaks and human trafficking if they refused to share personal details.
“Senior citizens and women were especially targeted, often impersonating law-enforcement or judicial authorities to extract payments. The gang also used fake banking apps, spoofed emails and social engineering tactics to carry out their fraud,” the police said in a statement.
The police asked people not to respond to suspicious emails and calls from people that claim to be from support teams of banks or e-commerce platforms. “You must always verify the complaints or offers with the official websites,” they said.
Published on July 19, 2025
