Ahmedabad, July 29 — The Ahmedabad Police on Wednesday busted an alleged illegal call centre in the Naroda area that investigators say targeted US citizens by posing as representatives of a loan company, persuading victims to share their Social Security numbers and pay bogus loan insurance fees through gift cards before converting the proceeds into Indian currency.
Acting on a specific tip-off received while on patrol, Police Sub-Inspector V.R. Chaudhary and his team were informed that a man identified as Mahesh was operating an illegal call centre from Flat No. 102, Block C/42, Swaminarayan Park in Naroda area, where he was allegedly posing as a representative of a loan company to cheat foreign nationals by obtaining gift cards on the pretext of sanctioning loans.
Based on the information, police conducted a raid in the presence of two independent witnesses. During the raid, police arrested Mahesh Sharoff, 38, who was living in the rented flat near Shelby Hospital in the Naroda area.
Police said another accused, identified as Martin, a resident of Gandhinagar, has not yet been arrested and remains absconding. Police alleged that Mahesh received lead data of American citizens from Martin through WhatsApp.
Investigators said he then used a laptop, mobile phones fitted with eSIMs and messaging applications to falsely identify himself as an official of a company named "Cash Advance America".
Victims were allegedly lured with promises of loan approval, after which they were asked to provide their Social Security numbers. They were then instructed to pay a loan insurance fee in the form of gift cards before the loan could be processed.
According to the police, the gift cards were subsequently handed over to Martin, who converted their value into Indian currency, while Mahesh allegedly received 65 per cent of the proceeds in cash.
The police seized digital equipment worth an estimated Rs 56,000 from the premises. "The seized items include an Apple iPhone 11 XS Max with an eSIM, valued at Rs 15,000; an Apple iPhone XR with an eSIM, valued at Rs 15,000; a Vivo V23 smartphone with a Jio SIM card, valued at Rs 5,000; a Poco smartphone, valued at Rs 5,000; an ASUS laptop, model A540S, valued at Rs 15,000; and a GTPL fibre broadband router valued at Rs 1,000," officials said.
Naroda Police have registered an FIR under Sections 61(2)(a), 318(4), 319(2) and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act.
Further investigation is underway to trace the absconding accused and examine the wider alleged fraud network.