Belagavi Police have dismantled a major global cyber-fraud network with the arrest of 33 individuals operating an illegal call centre in the city. Acting on a tip-off, the Cyber, Economic, and Narcotic (CEN) police raided an office on Bauxite Road, uncovering a sophisticated racket that had been cheating hundreds of U.S. citizens for months.
Police Commissioner Borase Bhushan Gulabarao said the midnight raid on Wednesday led to the seizure of 37 laptops, 37 mobile phones, and cloud-based systems used to store and delete evidence. Officers are now analysing the devices to determine the full scale of the operation.
None of the arrested are locals. They hail from several States, including Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and a few are from Nepal. Two men from Gujarat and West Bengal are suspected to be the masterminds. Police expect more arrests soon.
Investigations revealed that the call centre began operations in March 2025. Staff were recruited on salaries between ₹12,000 and ₹40,000 (and in some cases up to ₹45,000) with incentives. Each operator reportedly made close to 100 calls a day.
The fraudsters used 11 pre-written scripts to impersonate U.S. officials and representatives of courier firms or online retailers. Victims were falsely told that they had ordered expensive gadgets or received parcels requiring verification. When the victims called back, the operators posed as “senior officers”, displayed fake websites, extracted personal and banking details, and pressured them to make payments through vouchers or Walmart gift cards.
Some members also impersonated U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officers, claiming that the victims’ phone numbers or email accounts had been misused. Using VoIP technology, Urban VPN and cloud-based calling systems, the gang made calls appear as if they originated from the U.S., helping them evade detection.
The seized devices will undergo forensic imaging to trace the money trail and identify more victims. Cases have been registered under the Information Technology Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Commissioner Gulabarao congratulated the team led by ACP M.R. Raghu and Inspector B.R. Gaddekar, noting that the “scale of the scam appears to be dangerously large” and that Belagavi Police are committed to tracking every link in the network.
