How online fraudsters trap their prey: A week inside a phishing centre

Mumbai and Thane police busted six such call centres in Thane Mira Road and Bhayandar in 2019 but the action clearly seems inadequate as they continue to flourish The modus operandi involves offering needy citizens loans against an insurance policy at attractive termsAs part of a weeklong investigation midday penetrated the system to bust a phishing company Reporter Shirish Vaktania managed to get a job at a Thanebased company Stage Door Communication Private Limited SDCPL that employs at least 300 people including 200 callers and has a monthly turnover of Rs 15 crore The companys callers target citizens across states like Maharashtra Gujarat Karnataka Punjab Haryana Madhya Pradesh etcEach day hundreds of people fall prey to the network Many dont approach the police due to the tedious procedures and those who do are either turned away or made to run from pillar to postGoing undercoverVaktanias efforts to get inside the system began with him posing as an unemployed youngster in desperate need of a job After passing two rounds of interviews he was hired along with 11 other candidates The group was trained to sell insurance policy for two days before being deployed as callersPhishing racket in the garb of call centre mdash SDCPLrsquos office in Thane PicRajesh GuptaCallers offer loans in the name of Bajaj Finance which has no clue about SDCPL As Shirish became a known face at the call centre serving staff revealed to him that the company is actually running a phishing scam by offering loans at zero per cent interestOperating via landline phones each caller has to make 250 calls during a ninehour shift Like any corporate sales team the phishing industry too offers perksTargets and perksEach caller has a target of Rs 70000 per month A group of 35 employees who achieved a target of R3 lakh each in two months were taken for a threeday trip to Goa last Thursday A new target of Rs 6 lakh in two months promises a trip to BangkokInterview training inductionVaktania visited SDCPLs office at road no 22 Wagle Industrial Estate Thane West on Friday February 7 at 3 pm for an interview Two HR employees Tejashree and an unidentified male separately interviewed Vaktania who said that he was told about the job by his friend Diwakar Sharma They tested his knowledge about insurance and asked basic personal details He was hired for a sales job at a monthly salary of R10000 and told to report on Monday February 10 at 930 amDuring a twoday training session assistant manager Sagarika instructed trainees about the companys two products mdash insurance and holiday packages calling process identifying customers based on age need income and capability loans repaymentYou must speak politely with customers We accept payment via Google Pay and net banking We send customers documents and get their signatures via WhatsApp They are sent a receipt and insurance policy details via email or WhatsApp Sagarika told the new recruitsStage Door Communication Private Ltd office at Wagle Industrial Estate Thane West Pic Rajesh GuptaShe claimed SDCPL has an IRDA Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India licence which authorises it to sell insuranceOn the floorSDCPL did not allow employees to use mobile phones on the floor The floor boasts of rows of callers 20 in each training room HR cabin sever room backup office a pantry and washrooms The callers are managed by team leaders who give them targets and even take meetings where they abuse team members for low performance midday caught one such senior manager abusing his juniors on a sting video Tumhari layki nahin hai ye kaam karne ki Bahar jaake bhik mango isse accha he is heard sayingOn Vaktanias first day at work team leader Rahul divided the new recruits into groups and made them observe how callers work While all callers are aware of the fraud midday also learnt that police raids were conducted twice last month but apparently the matter was managed with senior police officersIncentives for crossing the R70000 mark are credited to callers along with their salary Caller Dhammadeep Awthare explained to a trainee how taking at least Rs 20000 even if the EMI is higher is enough as according to him Ek da customer ne paise bharle ki to fasla once the customer pays he is trappedTo cover its tracks SDCPL ensures its landline number cannot be traced However mobile numbers used to send and receive documents are traceable At the end of every day team leaders remove the batteries of all cell phones and take them home The handsets are locked in an officer drawer to prevent callers from alerting the customersGaining their trustShirish Vaktania at his desk on the floor of SDCPLCallers ask customers to provide Aadhaar and PAN cards citing legitimate bank accounts and sending images of fake IDs that boast the name of Bajaj FinanceBajaj Finance and Bajaj Alliance are different companies Bajaj Finance only gives loans I have sent you a picture of my ID card which also has the offices Goregaon address Awthare is heard telling a customer The untraceable landline numbers and a fake company address add to the callers confidence while convincing customersWhy would we involve a bank if we were fraudsters Sir if you are not comfortable with online payments we will send an executive to you to collect cash said a caller on phoneCustomers are assured of a visit by a company executive to get documents signed However the executive turns up offering holiday packages which is again a farce Calls by customers to raise questions either go unanswered or the response that the concerned executive has been transferredReporters call listAssistant manager SagarikaDuring a pep talk a senior manager Namdeo motivated employees with the prospect of international holidays You must have understood now how to talk to customers A bunch of us are going for a picnic to Goa Team leaders will keep an eye on you Approach people on phone do not leave your desks We will take you for a holiday to Bangkok if you perform well Namdeo said during the meeting where he also explained incentive slabsOn Friday which was Vaktanias sixth and last day at the office he called 250 people from a call list to generate business leads Two customers who Vaktania spoke to mdash Jalindar Dighe from Shirdi who runs a dairy business and Anant Potraje who runs a bakery in Pune mdash needed a R5 lakh loan and were willing to pay Rs 50000 midday did not share their details with SDCPLThe other sidemidday reporter Diwakar Sharma posing as a customer contacted SDCPL on their mobile phone number on February 14 Sticking to the modus operandi an employee Reena asked for a copy of the PAN and Aadhaar card bank account details or a crossed cheque First we need to check if the loan can be granted to you Reena told the reporterThis is a mortgage policy loan which means you purchase a policy and keep it mortgaged with Bajaj Finance as security If Bajaj approves a loan of R5 lakh and I die in the next six months or one year Bajaj Finance wont suffer a loss as it recovers the loan amount through the policy explained ReenaWhat Bajaj Finserv saysBajaj Finserv used to be called Bajaj Finance The Bajaj Groups Vice Chairman Sanjeev Bajaj told midday Our call centre is in Pune It seems this company is defrauding people using Bajaj Finances name If there is evidence available we will send our investigators to probeA video grab from the time when a senior manager verbally abused the team for lsquolowrsquo salesBajaj Finance Ltd mdash Bajaj Finservs Counsel Babu Rao said Bajaj Finserv never asks its customers for money In the past we have approached police against such scams Our website also has a cautionary message about such fraudstersBajaj Finserv has also come across fake websites which look similar to its own SDCPL has the logo of Bajaj Finance as its display picture on its WhatsApp numberNo complaint regarding SDCPL has come to us Our Fraud Control Team will probe the company and accordingly a complaint will be raised Rao saidCaller with a conscienceOne of the new recruits from Vaktanias group after getting to know about the phishing scam began calling his customers alerting them to the fraud instructing them not to pay the money and requesting to not reveal his name During a conversation with the midday reporter the recruit said Which company gives loan at zero per cent interest They are fooling people I will call more customers and alert them and leave this company after a month200No of callers at the fake call centre200No of daily calls each caller makesCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates