Goregaon scam kingpin learned his tricks at Mira Road call centre

The 25yearold mastermind in the fake call centre racket busted in Goregaon last week had honed his skills at the fake call centre at Mira Road that had been busted in October 2015 for duping US nationals out of 300 million However Yogi or Yogesh Sharma a college dropout had not been working at that call centre during the bust At the Goregaon call centre he and his team of nine four of whom have been arrested along with him had conned US citizens out of R15 crore in just 45 daysAlso Read Mumbai Crime Fake call centre scam busted in GoregaonAccording to the police the modus operandi was to call their victims through Interactive Voice Response System IVRS and tell them the call was from the department of social security and that their number had come up in a case of fraudulent activity They would then ask the scared Americans for cash or gift vouchers to popular online shopping sites as these were difficult to tracePradipkumar Suresh Ram the IT expert at the call centreSharma and his team were working in collusion with a team in the US who used to collect the cash from US citizens Sharma who has several years experience working in call centres had bought the data of 15 lakh Americans and would call them through the software VICI Dialer He had handpicked his team from among those who had previously worked in call centres that catered to American citizens He ensured that their target would never be able to guess that the caller was not American The questions asked too were carefully curated in order to ward off any suspicion that the caller was not genuineAlso Read Mumbai crime VP of international bank loses 18 lakh in credit card clone scamPolice sources said that they would pose as agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Internal Revenue Service IRS and Social Security Administration SSA and leave an IVRS message with a number to call back on Once the victim called back the accused would pose as an officer from the above government organisationsTwo of the other staffers arrestedThe four other accused arrested in this racket have been identified as Naeem Shafi Khan 31 Abhishek Salian 31 Asif Rouf Lajekar 32 and Pradipkumar Suresh Ram 29 The roles of the others are yet to be determined the police said They had rented an office in Goregaon and each employee was paid a monthly salary of R25000 and the best closure employee was rewarded with R1 lakh extraAlso Read Nirav Modis four swiss bank accounts worth 283 crore frozen9No of people at the call centreRs 1 lakhBonus to employee if they bagged a victim15 lakhSize of the database of American citizens that the call centre was working withFrom TranscriptsCall centre IVRS message This is officer xyz from the department of social security administration The reason you have received this call from our department is to inform you that there is legal enforcement action filed on your social security number for fraudulent activities When you get this message kindly call back at the earliest possible on our number before we begin legal proceedingsOnce the victim called backSocial security administration this is officer xyz How can I help youMay I know whom I am speaking withCan I have your first and last name and the SSN numberMrMrs abc can you help me out with your number on which you received a phone call from our officer todayMrMrs abc the reason you were contacted was to inform you regarding some legal enforcement action filed on your social security We have got an order to suspend your social security number at this very moment because we have found many suspicious activities done on your numberDid your receive any call from your local police departmentDo you have a piece of paper and pen handy as you may make note of what I am going to say to you the caller asked him to write some details like ID 455090310 case ID DC 1010 Warrant 515671 etcI will now go ahead and read out the legal charges against your name Do not interrupt while I am speaking You will be given a fair chance after I am doneYour social security number has been found to have been involved in suspicious criminal activities in the state of TexasHave you ever been in the state of Texas before YN because we are taking this issue to the FBI headquarters as we have strong evidence enough to prove your guilt in the courthouseThe investigation started when we found an abandoned car on the south border of Texas and the car contains some blood and drug residue inside it Hence after investigation we found the car was rented in your name and your personal social security information There are two addresses linked with the title of the vehicle the address in the city of Roulette was raided by the US Marshals but unfortunately there was no one inside the residence but we have recovered 22 pounds of cocaine which is an abusive drug and some documentation from a financial institute such as Chase Bank Bank of America and US Bank etcOnce the victim became suitably scared the accused keep demanding and extorting money to help the victim get out of the caseThe call centre employeeNow MrMrs abc if you want us to exempt your account I would have to request the court about the same please hold the line while I do so and let me get back to you with their feedbackThe court has informed me that they are willing to cooperate with you and allow your accounts to be exempted without being shut downThey then ask for cash or gift vouchers The cash is collected by their US counterparts from a metro station in the US bundling the cash in foil paper ndash to prevent it from appearing in the scanner machine said a police officer involved during the raid at the fake call centreCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates