PUNE CITY police have raided a call centre operating out of the Hadapsar area on Tuesday, which was allegedly involved in making fraudulent calls to senior citizens in the United States. The callers reportedly intimidated victims by claiming their financial data had been compromised, after first sending fake malware pop-ups to their mobile phones and computers. After the coordinated raid conducted by the Unit 5 of the Crime Branch on Tuesday, three persons including the proprietor and two managers have been arrested and 29 people working at the call centre have been booked. Police have seized 29 laptops, 20 desktop computers, 41 cell phones and seven internet routers in the raid. The police had received credible intelligence that the call centre was specifically targeting senior citizens from the US. Probe has now revealed that the call centre was sending fake pop-ups on the cell phones and computers of the targets warning them that their devices had been affected by malware. Then a call was made to the victims that their financial data including bank account details, credit card details would soon be stolen and misused. Then the callers used to take money from the victims on the pretext of installing antivirus protection or device safety applications. The money was being sought in various ways including cryptocurrency payments. Police raided the call centre located on Magarpatta Road and arrested three persons identified as NIrmal Ajay Shah (38), the proprietor of the call centre and managers Atul Praveen Shrimali (30) and Ugandhar Sanjay Hadge (34). As many as 29 people working at the call centre have been booked and a search has been launched for two more proprietors On Wednesday, the three arrested suspects were produced before court and have been remanded to police custody till October 4. The 29 people booked have been issued notices to remain present before the investigation officer for probe.
