Satara police bust bogus call centre scamming US citizens, 17 arrested

Kolhapur: The Satara police busted a bogus call centre — being operated in Koregaon town of the district — on Friday, and arrested 17 people allegedly duping US nationals. Most of those arrested are from Mumbai. The police also recovered Rs 21 lakh in Indian currency from the facility.

Satara superintendent of police Nikhil Pingale said, “A logistics and consultancy firm had been set up in a building along the Koregaon-Rahimatpur road, in Subhashnagar area of the town, in Feb.”

“Upon receiving information about the activities there, a team of LCB and Koregaon police personnel searched the building at night on Friday. The team found a few men and women working at the call centre. They were cheating American citizens via digital means. The court has granted us the custody of the 17 arrested men till Monday,” added the SP.

“When we searched the bogus call centre, operating under the name Shrisai Logistics and Consultants LLP, we found 17 men and four women. They were contacting American citizens online via an app, threatening them with digital arrest, and extorting large sums in dollars from them through gift vouchers. We have seized cash of Rs 21 lakh along with laptops, mobile phones, and data of American citizens from the centre,” said inspector Vishwajeet Ghodake, of the Satara LCB.

The arrested accused have been identified as Sagar Suryavanshi (of Mankhurd, Mumbai), Virendra Bodre, Mohammad Shafik Salim Kokane, Ritesh Chouhan (Nalasopara, Mumbai), Babu Chalwade, Dipen Jadhav, Akshay Bhandari (Govandi, Mumbai), Guruprasad Rane (Panvel, Raigad), Manish Joshi (Sagvada, Dindori), Shamsuddin Sayyad (Thane), Gaurav Landge (Lonand, Satara), Abhishek Gupta (Turbhe, Navi Mumbai), Omkar Gharge, Ishant Khandekar (Chembur, Mumbai), Deepak Khandare, Avi Wankhade (Turbhe Naka, Navi Mumbai), and Lebin Simon (Malad, Mumbai).

Further investigation is underway to ascertain more details about the operations and people involved. The women found working at the call centre are being questioned and have not been booked yet.