Even as you read this, the police are in action against one of the biggest call centre scams in India, emanating from Mira Road. There are at least 500 people from nine call centres in Mira Road who have been detained for cheating thousands, mostly foreigners, through fraud. Estimates say the fraud could run into hundreds of crores of rupees.

Owners hired professionals to make calls to thousands of people in their database. They first took the victims into confidence, using the personal information they already knew. They then started telling them about tax evasion, etc, to intimidate the victims. The victims were soon lured into revealing their bank details, or they were encouraged to transfer money into accounts set up by these criminals. Sure enough, the money vanished after that.