The crime branch unit 12 on Saturday busted a bogus call centre in Borivali West and arrested four persons for allegedly cheating the US citizens on the pretext of fixing their computers’ software.
According to the police, they received a tip-off that a bogus call centre was operating from the third floor of the Arpan apartment, an under-construction building located at Amarkant Jha Marg, Vajira Naka, Borivali West.
Describing the accused’s modus operandi, the police said that they used to send fake pop-ups to the US citizens’ laptops and desktops, indicating issues with their software and providing a toll-free number.
When the targets contacted them, the scammers pretended to be from Microsoft. Under the guise of fixing the computers, they slyly obtained their bank details and subsequently siphoned funds.
The police have seized six laptops, 20 phones, two routers and six speaker headphones. The accused – Akshat Surana, Abhishek Gupta, Dipen Dhanwani and Tilak Joshi – have been remanded to police custody. Apart from Dhanwani, the remaining three are history-sheeters, said the police.