Ahmedabad Police bust Illegal call centre targeting foreign nationals, 4 booked

In a late-night operation, Ramol police in Ahmedabad on Monday arrested a 20-year-old man and booked three of his associates for allegedly running an unauthorised call centre to defraud foreign nationals by offering them bogus personal loans at low interest rates.

According to police, the accused, identified as Dhruvesh Devangbhai Thakkar (20), a resident of Durga Park Society in Vastral, was nabbed around 11.15 pm from outside his residence. Police said Thakkar, along with his associates Ankur Desai of Odhav, Rajat Pandey of Vastral and Chirag Chauhan of Odhav, had devised a scheme to target citizens abroad by posing as representatives of a US-based financial company named 'Prosper'.

Investigators alleged that the group installed multiple applications—including Proton VPN, Nord VPN, Binance and VoIP-based platforms—on their mobile phones to mask their activities and make international calls. Using illegally procured data, they would approach foreign nationals with offers of personal loans at “low interest rates”. Victims were told to first pay processing charges ranging from 50 to 200 US dollars, often directed to Walmart Money Cards in the United States, after which the promised loans never materialised.

During the operation, police recovered two mobile phones loaded with several applications linked to cryptocurrency wallets. Officials claimed one of the seized phones showed a Binance account balance of 375 US dollars. A total of ₹10,000 in cash was also seized from the accused.

“By exploiting VPNs and VoIP applications, the accused created the impression of being legitimate representatives of overseas firms and cheated foreign nationals of substantial sums,” an officer said.

During priliminary investigation, Thakkar admitted to colluding with his three friends, who are currently absconding. Police said the gang used a layered set-up, with one member procuring leads, another handling the apps, and others acting as 'closers' to convince victims to part with money.

The accused has been booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Police said further investigation is underway to trace the absconding associates and determine the scale of the fraud.