Mumbai: The police in the western Indian city of Thane have arrested over 750 people suspected of defrauding US residents from a fake call centre.

The officers claims that the suspects got lists of US tax defaulters and used threats to get their bank details.

The scam is said to have earned more than $150,000 (£118,000) a day, making it one of the biggest frauds in the history of India.

The officials of Thane police said that they were contacting the FBI to ask for help.

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According to the police, almost 70 of those detained were formally arrested, with the rest released pending further inquiries while seventy two were released without further investigations. 9 people believed to lead the scam have been identified.

 


"The main objective behind all this was earning money," said Parag Manere, a deputy commissioner of police.


He furthermore added:


"They were running an unlawful procedure, posing themselves as officers of the (U.S.) Internal Revenue Service."


The officials of police did not identify the company where the call center workers were working, or any of the main players involved in the suspected scam.

Manere said that the suspected scammers asked Americans to purchase prepaid cash cards to settle outstanding tax debts and also used the threat of arrest against people who did not pay up.

The scammers acted as they were the members of the US Internal Revenue Service, and told victims they owed back taxes.

In few cases, the targets were duped into purchasing gift vouchers from various companies and bullied into unveiling the voucher ID numbers, said police.

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The scammers after that made purchases with the voucher numbers.

The police commissioner also told the media sources that 851 hard disks, high-end servers, as well as other electronic equipment had been seized.

Mr Singh said overnight raids on Wednesday had lasted well into the morning, and involved more than 200 policemen who had raided the buildings in three locations in the city.

Thane police superintendent Mahesh Patil told media sources that the investigation could open up cases also from other countries.

A US State Department official said:


"We have seen the reports and are following the situation closely to confirm any US resident involvement."


 

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