Mumbai: Five fake call centre staffers leap from first-floor office during Canadian scam raid in Powai

Upon discovering that a police team had arrived to carry out a raid early on Wednesday at a fake call center located in Powai's Srishti Plaza building, five out of the thirteen employees working there sustained injuries as they hastily jumped from the first floor in an attempt to evade the authorities.

In the early hours on between 1:45 am and 3:00 am, a MIDC police team conducted a raid on two offices of a fake call center situated on Saki Vihar Road in Powai. It is alleged that this call center was involved in a scam targeting Canadian citizens. The scam operated by convincing the victims to deposit bitcoin equivalent to approximately $3,000 at ATM kiosks. The scammers would use the pretext that the victims' confidential identity and banking information had been compromised, warning them against becoming embroiled in a money laundering or drug trading case.

According to a report of Times of India, A police officer said the team first reached Srishti Plaza and when they knocked on the door, the employees panicked, five of whom jumped from the first-floor window, which is 20 feet from the ground. Two of them suffered minor injuries and managed to escape. A third victim suffered major injuries to his legs and waist as two others who followed him fell on him.

The police team obtained information from four of the arrested suspects, including the alleged mastermind Nisar Sayyed (31), along with Afaz Mohsin (26), Marshal Selvaraj (33), and Avinash Mudaliyar (36). According to their statements, each member of the criminal operation was assigned a daily target of making a minimum of 100 fraudulent calls to Canadian citizens. Additionally, it was revealed that Nisar Sayyed had been arrested in July following a raid by Wada police in Palghar on a call center that employed a similar modus operandi.

At least 150 Canadian nationals fell prey to the fraud daily and ended up shelling out $3,000 each to avoid getting trapped in a money laundering or drug case after the racketeers called them, pretending to be government crime attorneys, and warned them that their confidential identity details had been compromised. The racketeers were found using apps such as X-Lite, Eye Beam and X-ten to call victims residing in Canada. They would call the victims claiming their online orders were under the scanner and they would have to pay up to escape arrest. The victims were forced to make payment through bitcoin, said a police officer.