The Bengaluru police have recently busted a transnational cybercrime syndicate which was operating from Whitefield.
How Did This Happen?
They have arrested 21 suspects who allegedly posed as Microsoft technical support staff to defraud foreign nationals as per the media reports.
Moving ahead they informed that they have got a tip-off, sleuths from the cyber command’s special cell and the Whitefield cybercrime division raided Musk Communications on November 14 and 15.
They continued the seize of computers, laptops, hard disks, mobile phones, and other devices during the two-day operation at the firm’s office on the sixth floor of Delta building, Sigma Soft Tech Park.
The 21 staffers present were appeared before a local court and remanded in police custody.
Targeting Almost 150 Victims In Us & UK
So far, the gang has targeted at least 150 victims in the US and UK since August, coercing each to deposit around $10,000 (approximately Rs 13.5 crore) into Bitcoin ATMs as per the information provided by the investigators.
A senior IPS officer who is known to the development said, “We are in the process of extracting the bank details of the victim customers.”
Further adding, “So far, we have found that victims were made to deposit money in bitcoins through various kiosks.”
It appears that the accused here allegedly impersonated Microsoft global technical support staff and cited fabricated ‘Federal Trade Commission (FTC) violations’ to frighten victims.
They extorted large sums for bogus security fixes and compliance procedures, under this pretext, out of these, “Three kingpins are still at large. They have been targeting victims in the UK and USA since 2022,” said the investigating officer.
For all this, the Musk Communications rented a 4,500 sq ft office in August for Rs 5 lakh a month, according to the police.
Besides this, the gang has deployed malicious Facebook ads targeting US users and “These ads contained embedded code masquerading as legitimate security alerts or service links. Once a user clicked on the ad, the code froze the computer and triggered a pop-up claiming to be from Microsoft global technical support, displaying a fake helpline number,” explained the investigators.
Once this happens, when the victims tries to contact the number, the fraudsters claimed the user’s computer was hacked, the IP address compromised, and banking data at risk and then they coerced the victims into paying hefty sums via Bitcoin ATMs.
For all this, the Musk Communications employed 83 people, of which 21 technical staff were directly involved in the scam said the Police.
These employees were paid monthly salaries ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
In the meantime the police has arrested an individual identified as Ravi Chauhan from Ahmedabad, who recruited around 85 staffers, was arrested last month, taking the total arrests to 22.
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