Chandauli (UP), Sep 30 (PTI) A call centre here allegedly targeted elderly Japanese nationals by tricking them into giving access to their computers and mobile phones and siphoning off large sums of money, police said on Wednesday.
Five people have been arrested and about Rs 9 lakh in two bank accounts of one of the accused has been frozen, police said.
“They mainly targeted elderly Japanese people. They contacted them through Zoiper (a software for internet-based phone calls) and screen-sharing software, gained their confidence and then infected their computers or mobile phones with viruses to extract large sums of money,” Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Vikram Dahiya said.
The accused allegedly used OTPs sent to victims’ phones to obtain their bank details. The money was then transferred to Japanese or Chinese bank accounts and brought back to India through hawala channels, Dahiya said.
Police are now tracing the money trail to determine where the proceeds of the alleged fraud, running into crores of rupees, were sent, he said.
The call centre operated from the third floor of a showroom building in Kailashpuri in Mughalsarai. A joint team of the Mughalsarai police, SWAT, surveillance and cyber units raided the premises on Wednesday after a case was registered on September 29, Dahiya said.
The gang allegedly used tourist centres in Gaya to connect with Japanese visitors. The call centre manager, one of the five arrested, had learnt Japanese and allegedly posed as a Japanese national while speaking to victims.
“They would receive calls from Japan on the Zoiper application and conduct the fraud from 7 am to 2 pm,” Dahiya said.
Police identified the arrested accused as the call centre’s manager Raunak Singh (32), and workers Roshan Kumar (21), Aman Kumar (23), Ankit Kumar (25) and Vikas Vaibhav (25), all residents of Bihar.
Police seized 19 computer monitors, 20 CPUs, 19 keyboards, headphones, mice, six mobile phones, forged documents and Aadhaar cards bearing Varanasi addresses.
The alleged gang leader remains absconding, police said. PTI COR KIS RUK
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