Karnataka cyber police bust fake call centre racket targeting US citizens

The Karnataka State Cyber Command has busted a racket involving fake call centres allegedly operating in Bengaluru under the guise of a prominent US-based accounting firm and defrauding citizens in the United States, police said on Thursday.

Two men-Prashanth, a resident of Delhi, and Akash, a resident of Uttar Pradesh-have been arrested in connection with the case, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, officials conducted searches at four locations in Bengaluru where the fake call centres were allegedly operating.

According to police, the call centres impersonated Intuit QuickBooks, a prominent US accounting software company, and cheated US citizens by offering counterfeit tax advice, fake licensing and renewal services.

The accused allegedly also provided fake licence keys and fraudulent software-related services.

''For these spurious services, they fraudulently collected huge sums as fees. The call centre personnel used fake names resembling those of US officials and defrauded unsuspecting US citizens,'' Pronab Mohanty, Director General of Police (Cyber Command) said in a statement.

Police said incriminating material and electronic devices allegedly used in the fraud were seized from the accused.

The seized items included 44 Solid-State Drives (SSD), two mobile phones, two laptops, nine CPUs, scripts prepared for conversations with victims and several other accessories.

''The accused created a company called 'Circle Square LLC' and allegedly used shell companies to siphon off large sums of money from US citizens. Investigations are underway to determine how the money was obtained, through which accounts it was transferred, and how it was laundered,'' Mohanty added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)