Exclusive: How online fraudsters trap their prey mid- day investigation u00bb With 200 calls a day, monthly target to scam people of at least R 70,000, and incentive bash in Goa, this fake call centre we infiltrated works just like a corporate firm, with the only difference being itu2019s fully criminal A week inside a phishing centre Shirish Vaktania outside Stage Door Communication Private Ltdu2019s Thane office on his first day at work Shirish Vaktania and Diwakar Sharma mailbag@ mid- day. com IT looks like any other corporate office, giving its employees strict shift timings and formal dress codes. But, behind the veneer of respectability and legitimacy lies a sinister plot to defraud gullible targets, especially farmers, of lakhs of rupees every day and make a turnover of at least a crore every month.
Phishing dens have secured their bases on the outskirts of Mumbai. For this investigation, a mid- day reporter busts a fake call centre by working as a staffer for a week. u00bb P06 Phishing racket in the garb of call centre u2014 SDCPLu2019s office in Thane.
pic/ rajesh gupta ART OF DECEPTION Caller Dhammadeep Awthare calls residents of Kolhapur district, giving the fake name of Amar Jadhav.
u201c Hello sir, I am Amar Jadhav from Bajaj Finance companyu2019s head office in Goregaon, Mumbai. Do you require a loan on zero per cent interest? Bajaj Finance will give you R 2.25 lakh against an insurance policy.u201d u201c You can repay the loan in annual R 20,000 instalments for 10 years. To get it approved, you must first buy the policy and pay an advance EMI of R 20,000.u201d u201c The life insurance is for 20 years. We will invest the policy in the stock market from where Bajaj Finance will earn the interest. In addition, we offer you a R 5 lakh accident insurance, and R 50,000 as part of the u2018 Pant Pradhan Aawas Yojnau2019.u201d u201c You must pay the R 20,000 to Sterling Life Insurance. We would require your Aadhaar and PAN cards to process the loan. Our executive will visit you an hour after payment is confirmed. 200 u201d No. of callers at the fake call centre 200 No. of daily calls each caller makes
