New Delhi, Nov 4 The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has arrested four more people in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation into a call centre “scam” that targeted US nationals.
The alleged scamsters contacted the individuals on the pretext of fraudulent purchases or charges on their accounts, the ED said in a statement.
The callers then intimidated the victims by posing as officials from US agencies such as Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of the Treasury. They used forged identity cards, badges, official letters and court documents, according to the federal probe agency.
“Under the threat of legal action, the victims were induced to hand over cash and gold to pick-up persons, send cash in parcels through courier services, or transfer funds to US bank accounts of money mules and purchase gift cards.
“The proceeds collected were converted into Indian rupee through cryptocurrency and hawala channels and were also routed through accounts in Dubai and other countries,” the ED said.
Harshil Nayanbhai Raval, Jaswant Singh, Chetan Munjal and Pranav Pithadia were arrested on Tuesday and produced by the agency before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Nampally, Hyderabad, which remanded them to judicial custody.
Three persons were arrested in this case earlier this year and they are currently lodged in Central Jail, Chanchalguda.
The ED had conducted searches in this case in September in Patiala, Pune and Chandigarh.
The agency found that calls were placed from India to US residents using “lead lists” of about 20 lakh people, US telephone numbers and auto dialler servers hosted in Germany and Finland.
(PTI News)
