Sixty-three accused manning a fake call centre in HiTec City, Hyderabad, were arrested by the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau in an operation carried out on the intervening night of March 5 and 6.
| Photo Credit: Arrangement
The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau is set to seek 14-day custody of the 63 accused who targeted PayPal customers in the US from a call centre – Exito Solutions – in Hitec City.
An estimated 20,000 NRIs and US citizens are said to have been duped over ₹50 lakh in the international scam that operated out of Hyderabad for about a month.
The Bureau will file a petition in Nampally Court on Monday for the custody of the some of the accused, including Chanda Manasvini, the managing director of Exito Solutions, senior officials close to the investigation confirmed.
“We will seek custody of the accused in phases, not all 63 at once. A few will be questioned first, followed by the others,” TGCSB Director Shikha Goel said.
This comes shortly after 63 ‘agents’ manning a fake call centre in Patrika Nagar were arrested by the bureau in an overnight operation carried out on March 5.
Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind behind the operation – Kaivan Patel Rupesh Kumar, alias Jadu Bhai, based in Gujarat – has been traced, and special teams have been deployed to arrest him. Additionally, nearly 100 devices seized during the crackdown are under forensic analysis at the State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for evidence linked to the illicit transactions.
Investigators are also collaborating with state police forces in Karnataka, Punjab, and other regions, suspecting connections to similar fraud networks operating there.
The accused, posing as PayPal representatives, falsely informed US citizens of unauthorised transactions, leading them to share sensitive banking information, which was then used to siphon funds to mule bank accounts.
As of preliminary investigation, the fraudsters used stolen customer data from PayPal – likely sourced from the dark web – to identify their targets. To prevent further breaches, the Bureau will also be writing to PayPal, informing them about the scam and the misuse of sensitive customer data to con unsuspecting victims, the officials said.
Published – March 08, 2025 07:55 pm IST
