ED busts illicit call center scam in Salt Lake, seals operations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Saturday that it has uncovered an illicit call center operation located in Salt Lake, Kolkata, engaged in fraudulent activities on both domestic and international fronts. Authorities have taken swift action to seal the call center.

Under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the central agency executed search operations at 11 different locations connected to Kunal Gupta, the owner and director of M/s Met Technologies Pvt. Ltd, based in Kolkata. The ED launched this investigation following an FIR filed by Bidhannagar Police, which accused M/s Met Technologies Pvt. Ltd and its associates of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the IPC, 1860.

In a press note, the ED said, “The investigation revealed that the representatives of the company targeted gullible residents in the USA, the UK, and Australia through bogus tech support offers, deceptive website sales, and sham loan offers via counterfeit mobile apps, coercing victims into substantial payments. Kunal Gupta has established companies in the UK, the US, Australia.”

“It is also gathered that two of his UK-based companies have been levied huge penalties by Ofcom, the Telecom Regulator of the UK, for slamming, which is the illegal practice of switching a consumer’s telephone service provider without consent,” it said.