BENGALURU: The Karnataka police on Thursday busted a fraudulent call centre in Bengaluru and arrested two software engineers who are believed to be the masterminds behind a Rs 40 crore scam. The call centre was allegedly defrauding US citizens by pretending to offer tax advice through QuickBooks, an accounting software package developed and sold by the US firm Intuit.
Raids Conducted Across Three Locations
Acting on a tip-off, sleuths from the Karnataka State Cyber Command raided the offices of Reckoning Service in Koramangala, HSR Layout, and Choodasandra. Approximately 70 employees, mostly telecallers, were working from these centres. Preliminary investigations revealed that the duo — Prashanth from Delhi and Akash Gupta from Uttar Pradesh — had been operating the company for four years. In recent months, they had collected Rs 40 crore from unsuspecting US taxpayers. They have been taken into 10-day police custody for questioning.
Modus Operandi
Director General of Police (Karnataka Cyber Command Centre) Pronab Mohanty said: “The staffers would introduce themselves as ‘technical support team from QuickBooks’ and offer accounting services, including licence renewal, for a fee. In plain words, they offered tax consultation and promised solutions. Trusting them, victims would transfer money, awaiting solutions which would never come.” Police added that the telecallers were equally gullible, unaware of the deception they were perpetrating.
Telecallers Instructed to Use American Names
The telecallers were made to believe that their company was affiliated with Intuit and that they were part of a customer-facing team for QuickBooks. They were instructed to assume American names while handling calls with taxpayers.
Seizures and Evidence
The sleuths seized 44 storage devices, two mobile phones, two laptops, and nine CPUs from the premises. An investigating officer stated: “The arrested duo are computer science degree holders and have worked as engineers in several cities, including Bengaluru. We have seized scripts used for communicating with US citizens. In some cases, we discovered that the accused sent fake notices to US citizens, warning of legal action for falsely filing tax returns. At the end of the notice, they would mention contact details for Reckoning Service Pvt Ltd. Panicked individuals would contact the fake firm and fall prey.”
Suspicion of US Citizen Involvement
DGP Mohanty said he suspects the involvement of an American citizen in the racket. “Otherwise, how would the prime accused get to know the functioning of QuickBooks? Some miscreants sell information about companies and individuals,” he remarked. The accused also created a company called Circle Square and used shell companies to route the collected money, sleuths added.
