IRS scam money came back to India via hawala: Police
If was found that the proceeds of the crime, was transferred to China-based banks accounts from USA.
Mumbai: The Thane police that probed the call-centre scam, in which employees of nine Mira-Road based call centres allegedly extorted US citizens in the name of their tax and immigration authorities, found that in a few cases the proceeds of the crime, was transferred to China-based banks accounts from USA and then re-wired to Ahmedabad in India via hawala.
The police mentioned the alleged China connection in the scam’s money-trail in their recent case chargesheet filed in the case. The call centre scam was busted on October 4 when the Thane police raided call centres in the Mira Road-Bhayander area and arrested 50 accused persons.
It has been mentioned in the chargesheet that the some of the money the scammers earned by convincing victims to buy Vanilla Gift Cards or iTunes cards, and by sharing their PIN numbers, was deposited into accounts maintained in China by kingpins. This money then used to get transferred via hawala to India. The Thane police has sent letters to these banks seeking information about certain account holders.
In the call centre on a daily basis, employees would send voicemails telling people they owed a large sum to the tax department, and leaving a number to call back. When the called back, in conversations stretching up to 30 minutes, they threatened the victims with police action if they hung up.
The Thane police filed its chargesheet in the call centre scam on Friday. Police officers said as three different cases were registered in this matter, three chargesheets were filed. The first chargesheet is of 4,118 pages, in which 50 people have been shown as arrested while 17 are named as wanted. Another chargesheet is of 275 pages, in which 10 are shown as arrested and three are still wanted. The last chargesheet contains 1,393 pages, in which 23 are shown as arrested and eight as wanted.
As part of the scam, employees of nine call centres had allegedly extorted American citizens in the name of their tax and immigration authorities.
According to the chargesheet, they have recovered items worth Rs 4,18,67,615 (Rs 4.18 crore) in the first case of Kashimira police station, in which case fraud of Rs 14,19,67,659 (Rs 14.19 crore) was recorded. The police recorded the statements of as many as 133 people in the case.