LUDHIANA/NEW YORK (TIP): The Ludhiana police have busted a fake call center and arrested 29 members belonging to Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Nagaland and Meghalaya, according to a news report carried by Tribune. Those arrested are aged between 19 and 25 years. These persons would make American residents believe that their computer/laptop had been hacked and then swindle money from them on the pretext of fixing the issue.

Eleven of them belong to Meghalaya. They were getting a monthly salary ranging between Rs 25,000 and Rs 45,000. On an average, around 20 US residents were duped of $500 each, thereby making around $10,000 daily.

The call center was being run from a rental accommodation at Daad village. The police seized 14 tablets, 34 mobile phones, two laptops, Rs 1.17 lakh in cash and one scooter from the accused.

Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said center manager Krishna of Gujarat and IT expert Sachin of UP were arrested acting on a tip-off yesterday. Following disclosures by them, a raid was conducted on a house at Daad village last night from where 27 more persons were held.

Sidhu said their counterparts in the US would bombard pop-up messages on the computers of the US residents, showing warning that their device had been hacked or compromised. Once the user clicked on the link, a technical support number claiming to be from Microsoft and Apple headquarters would show up.

Once the telephone call was initiated by the computer owner, the scammer would instruct the victim to download a remote desktop software and to allow the conspirator to connect to the victim’s computer to address the issue.

Later, the accused would convince the victim that there were subscriptions that the victim would have to apply and only the Federal Trade Commission, US, could deal with that issue. After that, the call would be transferred to another team member who pretended to be a representative of the Federal Trade Commission. That person would then convince the victim that he would help secure his computer, but for that, a withdrawal of $500 would have to be made from his bank account. He would tell the victim that the amount would be converted into some traceable electronic mode (gift card ) and then credited to his account and his computer would also be secured.