1,000 Britons a day hit by Indian call centre swindle: Police believe fraudsters have made £10million from UK victims
(L-R) Yasheen Nagpal and Rajat Bhayana have both been arrested for their part in a multi-million pound fraud
Up to 60,000 Britons have been the victims of a multi-million-pound Indian call centre and internet fraud, the Mail can reveal.
Investigators believe the sheer number taken in by the loans scam makes it one of the biggest frauds ever carried out in the UK from overseas.
The Delhi HQ of Max InfoTech in Pitampura, Delhi, where an alleged multi-million pound fraud using Indian call centres to cold call failed loan applicants in the UK was conducted
At its height, more than 1,000 people a day who had legitimately sought unsecured loans with banks and finance companies were being ‘cold called’ from call centres in the Indian capital New Delhi – with 100 of them daily being duped into signing-up and paying a ‘processing fee’ to secure non-existent cash.
A special Delhi police cell, normally focused on anti-terrorist operations, is heading the investigations after a request from the British High Commission and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK’s national police agency.
Indian police say at a ‘conservative estimate’ they believe around £10million was cheated out of UK citizens seeking loans.
Ironically, although the Delhi police say they have the email addresses of thousands of victims from files and computers seized from a call centre in the city, their email requests for help are not being met because, they believe, those targeted fear it is part of the ongoing scam.
Most victims have been cheated out of small sums ranging from £90 to £250, but one man, they say, lost more than £200,000 as he ‘chased’ his promised loan.
Detectives say they believe they have now smashed the gang, with three Indian men arrested on suspicion of a ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’ to commit fraud using electronic equipment. However, others remain on the run in the UK and India.
None of those held have links to Britain, although one was previously at the centre of an investigation into an Indian-based computer theft from UK credit cards. Among the finance companies they claimed to run was Max Infotech, based in offices above a motorbike repair shop in Pitampura, a residential area of north-west Delhi.
The case once again highlights the disturbing ease with which fraudsters can purchase confidential personal details and data provided to various internet sites.
Crucially, the details obtained included the fact that an individual was seeking a loan, the amount required, his or her telephone number, email address, date of birth and home address.
Police say it meant that when a genuine-sounding ‘representative’ of a fake finance company called to say the victim’s details had been passed on via the business they had first approached and a loan – never more than a few thousand pounds – had been approved, they were ‘pushing at an open door’.
Yasheen Nagpal (left) being escorted to Delhi court after being arrested for his part in a multi-million pound fraud
Callers from Delhi with excellent English speaking over Skype or the web pretended they were in the UK and often referred the victim to the fictitious ‘references’ of satisfied clients already on the internet.
The victim was then told that while the full loan had been approved, a one-off processing fee was required. Initially, the Indian-based fraudsters requested this was paid through money transfer firms MoneyGram or Western Union.
As the fraud became more successful, they graduated to demanding payments in UKash – dubbed ‘electronic cash’ – where a user can buy a unique 19 digit code online, representing prepaid money that can easily, and anonymously, be reclaimed by the fraudster.
The operation became so successful, police say, that the fraudsters were forced to out-source to call centres around Delhi.
Two of the men in custody – Yasheen Nagpal and Rajat Bhayana – live with their parents in modest flats in middle-class areas of Delhi and have degrees in computer communication and technology skills while the third, Surander Gupta, lives in a £300,000 apartment with his parents and sister. The suspects face up to seven years in jail.
They operated from the Pitampura offices where satellite dishes had been installed on the roof to speed up internet connections.
Police say there is evidence the vast profits were invested in property and gambling syndicates.
One officer said: ‘We are not cheats in India but these were a few people making big money out of those needing loans in difficult times.’