Investigations into the telecalling racket busted by the Thane police have revealed a highly organised set-up, in which young men and women were interviewed, trained, paid monthly salaries and were even given bonuses for meeting weekly targets set by the masterminds.
In one of their biggest operations, the Thane police, in simultaneous raids on three ‘call centres’, picked up 772 people in connection with a racket where telecallers were contacting U.S. citizens posing as officers of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and conning them into paying ‘fines’ for ‘tax default’.
The accused are believed to have cheated thousands of Americans into paying hundreds of crores of rupees in the last one year that they have been active.
Regular interviews
According to police sources, the masterminds of the racket regularly held interviews for their call centres, promising high paying jobs for the right candidates.
“Telecallers were selected based on their command on the English language and trained in the American accent after being hired. There was a group of people working as trainers. Monthly salaries begin from Rs. 30,000 a month and there was even a system of giving bonuses if the telecallers were able to meet or surpass the targets,” a police officer said.
Another officer added, “The telecallers were made fully aware of the illegality of their jobs. A large number of candidates refused to take up the job on learning what was expected of them. However, most of telecallers are unemployed youth or drug or liquor addicts in dire need of money, and were ready to break the law.”
Reach out to police
The police have identified 630 people working as telecallers in the three call centres raided on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, many American citizens reached out to the Thane police after getting news of busting of the racket.
