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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has busted a major tech fraud network following a series of midnight raids on illegal call centres in Chandigarh's Tricity for their alleged involvement in duping foreign nationals under the pretext of providing technical support services.
ED's Chandigarh Zonal Office launched the search operation on various alleged illegal call centres operating in Chandigarh Tricity who were "duping foreign customers in the guise of providing non-existent tech support services." As per officials, the fraudulent entities posed as legitimate tech support companies, offering services such as web design, wireless internet, and hardware troubleshooting for reputed brands like Microsoft, HP, and Arlo. However, these companies lacked proper certification or licensing agreements from the tech giants. The ED's investigation revealed that these call centres operated in a clandestine manner. Promoter and team details were missing from their websites, and employees were found to lack the necessary skills in software support and BPO operations. Funds from these scams were funnelled through overseas shell companies and routed back to India via formal banking channels and hawala networks. Officials said, "Such companies open overseas counterpart companies to receive such fraudulent funds through payment gateways, which are then remitted to India through banking channels as well as hawala." These companies, on their websites, had advertised that they are into many software support services like web designing, fixed wireless internet services, etc.; however, the details of the promoters, directors and team members were not mentioned. "These business activities were operated in a completely clandestine manner. Even the employees were not found to be proficient in the software and BPO skillsets," said the officials.(ANI)
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