Fake call center in Kolkata busted, 20 arrested for scam targeting US PayPal and Amazon Pay users

A fake call center named Hamerli Realcon Pvt Ltd operating in Salt Lake's Sapurji area has been exposed by police sources. The fraudsters primarily targeted users of online money wallets like PayPal and Amazon Pay in the United States.

They executed an email blast across a specific sector of the US, falsely claiming illegal transactions and urging victims to contact a provided number. These scammers obtained account details through voice-over calls and convinced victims to invest in gift cards as a means of receiving support.

According to police sources, funds loaded onto these gift cards were transferred from the US to Kolkata via hawala channels. US-based fraudsters sent gift cards to individuals in the US and shared pictures of partial dollar bills with their Kolkata-based counterparts. The Kolkata company then collected the money using the number on the dollar bill through hawala transfers.

In a recent raid by Bidhan Nagar Cyber Crime Police, twenty individuals, including two women, were apprehended at the Sapurji call center. The police seized Tk 2 lakh 10 thousand in cash, along with multiple mobile phones, computers, laptops, hard disks, and a database.

The director of the organization, Alia Alam, and two others, Mohammad Fiyaz Alam and Mohammad Sahzada, were arrested. The accused will be presented in the Bidhannagar court, and the police plan to seek custody of the main suspects. The Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police has launched an investigation to identify additional individuals involved in the scam and those responsible for the hawala money transfers.