Mumbai: Man held for running call centre to cheat Indian, US citizens

A 28-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly operating a fake call centre to cheat citizens of India and the United States of America on the pretext of providing help in foreign exchange, currency and commodity trading matters, a Mumbai police official said on Saturday.

The man, who was operating the fake call centre from the northern suburb of Malad, was held on Thursday, while two of his associates are on the run, the Bangur Nagar police station official said.

The arrest was made after a raid was held at a shop at a commercial complex on Malad link road where the fake call centre was housed, he said.

”The accused was arrested from the spot. Some staffers had logged on to the website of his firm and were trying to making calls to US residents to lure them into investing in ponzi schemes related to foreign exchange, currency and commodity trading,” he explained.

”We have found details of at least 100 persons who were cheated in this manner. We have seized mobile phones, hard disks, computers etc from the site. The accused has been charged with cheating and other offences under Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act provisions,” he added.