CBI Busts Illegal Call Centre Racket In Maharashtra, 5 Arrested

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted an illegal call centre racket, being run by certain private persons in rented premises, in Igatpuri (Rainforest Resort), Nashik, Maharashtra, an official statement said.

According to the statement, CBI registered this Cyber Fraud Case on 08.08.2025 against 06 accused private persons, all residents of Mumbai, as well as unknown private persons and Bank officials. It was alleged in the FIR that the accused persons entered into criminal conspiracy with each other and other unknown persons, and have committed financial fraud by impersonation and making phishing calls/deceptive calls, from an illegal call centre, posing as Amazon Support Services Call Centre.

The accused persons have been allegedly cheating citizens of the US, Canada and other countries and fraudulently obtaining proceeds of crime via Gift Cards/cryptocurrency, the statement added.

The call centre is located at Igatpuri, Nashik, Maharashtra.

The accused persons reportedly recruited around 60 operators, comprising dialers, verifiers, and closers, to run the said illegal call centre.

Investigation by the CBI has resulted in the recovery of 44 laptops, 71 mobile phones, and other incriminating digital evidence, as well as unaccounted cash of Rs. 1.20 crores, 500 gms of Gold, and 7 Luxury Cars worth Rs. 1 Crore. Transactions of approximately 5000 USDT cryptocurrency (Rs. 5 lakhs) and 2000 Canadian dollars worth gift vouchers (Rs. 1.26 lakhs) were also detected.

During the searches, 62 employees working in the call centre were found operating live, where a process of cheating foreign nationals was in progress. So far, 05 accused persons have been arrested.

Further investigation is underway.

Earlier in July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as part of its ongoing Operation Chakra-V, cracked down on a transnational cybercrime syndicate running a sophisticated tech support scam targeting citizens of the United Kingdom and Australia.

In a coordinated operation conducted on 07.07.2025, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at three locations in Noida, including at a fully functional fraudulent call centre operating from the Noida Special Economic Zone. The operation was meticulously timed with the time zones of the victims, resulting in the detection of live scam calls in progress during the raids.

Acting on credible intelligence, the CBI registered RC 07/2025 to investigate the syndicate, which posed as technical support staff of reputed multinational companies, including Microsoft.

The fraudsters were cheating foreign nationals by falsely claiming that their devices were compromised and extorting money under the guise of resolving non-existent technical issues.

After registering the case, the CBI collaborated closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Crime Agency (UK), and Microsoft Corporation to trace the syndicate's operations and locations.

During the searches, the CBI seized extensive evidence, including advanced calling infrastructure, malicious scripts used to deceive victims, and documents revealing the scale of the fraud and extortion. The syndicate's call centre, operating under the name 'FirstIdea', was found to be technologically sophisticated, enabling cross-border anonymity and large-scale targeting of victims. The key operative, a partner of 'FirstIdea'.

The CBI remains committed to combating the growing menace of cybercrime and reiterates its resolve to work with domestic and international partners to dismantle such syndicates and bring perpetrators to justice.

Through Operation Chakra-V and similar initiatives, the Bureau continues to strengthen its capabilities to detect, investigate, and prosecute cybercriminals operating across borders.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)