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The Bengaluru City Police have busted a major “digital arrest” racket operating under the guise of a call centre, arresting 16 people accused of defrauding foreign nationals, primarily from the United States and Canada.
The fake BPO, operating under the name Cybits Solutions Pvt Ltd from HSR Layout, had been active for over a year and is believed to have siphoned off crores of rupees through elaborate cyber scams.
According to Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh, the racket employed trained staff who impersonated officials from American law enforcement agencies such as the US Border Security Force and the US Customs and Border Protection. “They contacted US citizens online, accused them of being involved in drug trafficking or money laundering, and then coerced them into transferring money under the pretext of settling the matter,” Seemant said.
Acting on intelligence inputs, the HSR Layout police raided the call centre on October 7 and arrested 16 employees — eight from Maharashtra, four from Meghalaya, and the rest from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Gujarat. The accused, police said, were trained in cyber fraud and worked as part of a coordinated criminal network to extort money from unsuspecting victims abroad.
During the raid, officials seized 41 computer systems, 25 mobile phones, routers, ID cards, attendance registers, and handwritten call scripts used in the fraud.
Investigations revealed that most of the recruits — young men and women hired through job portals such as LinkedIn and WorkIndia — were promised legitimate BPO jobs with free accommodation and food in Bengaluru. Once hired, they underwent weeks of training in English with an American accent and were instructed to pose as “US federal agents” during calls. Police also recovered fake FBI and police ID cards, along with fabricated arrest warrants used to intimidate victims.
According to The Indian Express, an investigating officer said that employees received a base salary of around Rs 25,000 a month, with hefty incentives linked to the amount extorted. “Some earned as much as Rs 5 lakh in a month,” the officer said.
The fraudsters used a live server and multiple online calling tools to mask their location, while digital scripts hosted on websites like Justpaste.it guided their conversations with victims.
The arrested accused have been remanded in judicial custody. Police said they will seek further custody to trace the financial trail and identify the main operators behind the racket. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also been informed to coordinate and verify related complaints filed in the US.