The four members, including the kingpin, were detained for allegedly conning the US nationals of 20 million dollars.
According to a statement provided by a Delhi Police official, the information regarding the cybercrimes was received by their Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit – which deals with complex cybercrime cases – from the FBI and Interpol. The agencies indicated that “some international cybercriminals, in conspiracy with each other and with the aid and assistance of co-conspirators based in India, the US and Uganda, were running call centers by posing as employees of the US Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration, and other US agencies,” said H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner Police (Delhi Police Special Cell).
“We received information that one accused, Parth Armarkar, impersonated a specific living person by the name of Uttam Dhillon. During his career, the real Uttam Dhillon served as the Acting Administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration and as the Director of INTERPOL Washington. Armarkar defrauded victims of millions of USD through call centers operating in Uganda, Africa. He is an Indian national and occasionally visits India,” Dhaliwal said.
The accused Armarkar, allegedly defrauded the victims of around $6 million via phony call centers in Uganda. Later, the technical inputs provided by the FBI helped Delhi police arrest the accused from Ahmedabad, India, apparently the place from where he was operating a segment of the syndicate.
Keeping in mind the severity of the situation, the Delhi Police established several teams of IFSO and Counter Intelligence/Special Cell to investigate on the issue.
Armarkar’s arrest was followed by the Delhi police tracking down the alleged leader of the syndicate, Vatsal Mehta. Further investigation led to the arrest of two more accused, Deepak Arora and Prashant Kumar. According to the police, the accused were on the FBI radar for a very long time.
As part of the coordinated action, the FBI has interviewed over 50 victims so far and collected evidence of fraud amounting to more than 20 million USD, which will be produced in court as per procedure. “Two victims from the US have also been examined through video calling by IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations),” the officials noted.
The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against the four accused under section 419 (cheating done by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 384 (extortion), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (acts by many in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (impersonation) of the IT Act.