HYDERABAD: Authorities have successfully dismantled a fraudulent international call center in Hyderabad, resulting in the arrest of 115 individuals belonging to an interstate gang.

This group allegedly engaged in scamming US citizens by posing as representatives of a prominent e-commerce company, as reported by the Cyberabad Police on Friday.Acting on credible intelligence, law enforcement teams executed raids on the illicit call center premises, apprehending 115 cyber criminals who had been operating a scheme targeting American nationals through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls.

Over a span of two and a half years, these "fraudsters" had reportedly swindled unsuspecting victims, Cyberabad police commissioner M Stephen Raveendra said.According to law enforcement, the accused members sourced phone numbers and personal information from an online portal.

Call center staff then engaged in random calls to US residents using VoIP technology.

The callers employed scare tactics, informing recipients that a package addressed to them contained suspicious substances.

A statement from the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate explained that the fraudulent call center personnel would proceed to extract personal details from these US citizens and subsequently issue threats of impending legal action by the "US Customs and Border Protection Cell department." To supposedly resolve the situation, victims were coerced into buying gift cards or vouchers from the e-commerce company, ostensibly to cancel or return the alleged parcel.Out of fear, the targeted US citizens would purchase the requested gift vouchers and relay the redeem codes to the call center employees.

The police further elaborated on the gang's modus operandi, detailing how these fraudsters would then sell the obtained gift cards on a different website, typically at discounted rates.

Upon redeeming the codes, buyers from this platform would transfer funds in cryptocurrency to the scammers.

Subsequently, the accused individuals would convert this cryptocurrency into USDT using cryptocurrency exchange platforms and eventually sell the USDT to local bitcoin vendors, thus obtaining Indian currency.During the operation, law enforcement confiscated seven laptops, 115 CPUs, 94 monitors, and 120 mobile phones from the suspects.

A formal case has been registered, and investigations are ongoing to uncover further details about the extent of this cyber fraud network.(With inputs from PTI)