Call centre scam: Telangana gang caught defrauding Australian citizens
Cyberabad police arrested nine people who hacked Australian bank accounts using a Madhapur call centre. Victims were tricked with fake pop-ups and emails, and money was transferred to India via hawala and cryptocurrency. Computers, phones, and a vehicle were seized
Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police caught nine persons who duped Australian citizens to the tune of thousands of Australian Dollars by hacking into the bank accounts and transferring the funds.
The arrested are Yepuri Ganesh, Marampudu Chenna Keshava, Moumita Mondal, Eajaz Ahmed, Sambit Roy, Shannik Banerjee, Moumita Mallick, Silpi Samadder and Kunal Singh.
According to the police, Ganesh and Keshava, who are natives of Khammam district in Telangana, rented a flat at a building in Madhapur and set up a call centre. The duo hired seven people to work as call centre executives.
With the help of some people in Australia, the gang collected bank accounts of Indian students staying in the country. The gang also sourced details such as email accounts of Australian citizens from some individuals.
“The gang sent fake pop-ups/emails to Australian citizens, falsely claiming their computer had been compromised and asked them to contact a call centre to resolve the issue. When the victim called over the phone, the executives convinced the victims to allow them to have access to their computers using ‘AnyDesk app’. After gaining access to the computers, the fraudsters took control of the online banking accounts of the victims. The scammers then transferred the money from the victims’ bank accounts into some other bank accounts, which were then transferred through hawala or cryptocurrency, to India,” said YVS Sudheendra, DCP (cyber crimes), Cyberabad.
The police came across details of 45 Australian bank accounts during the raid. The police seized 12 HP computers, 2 routers, a Thar vehicle, 21 mobile phones and other items from the gang.
