Pune Police Bust Hadapsar Call Centre Cheating US Citizens, 32 Detained
Pune Police Bust Hadapsar Call Centre Cheating US Citizens, 32 Detained
Pune, October 2, 2025: Pune police on Wednesday raided an illegal call centre allegedly operating from three shops in a Hadapsar commercial building and detained 32 people for defrauding US citizens using malware on computers, laptops, and phones. Authorities are still searching for two additional suspects.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Nikhil Pingale said the centre had been active since February this year. “Two men from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, allegedly ran the operation with the assistance of local residents in Pune,” he added.
Preliminary estimates suggest the call centre had scammed approximately Rs 10 crore from US citizens. Among the detainees, 29 were employees and three were managers of the facility.
Pingale explained the modus operandi: “The staff would exploit vulnerabilities in victims’ devices and install malware. When systems began to slow down, they would pose as technical support from software companies, claiming to fix the issues, and collect payments in the form of online gift cards, cryptocurrencies, and other modes.”
This is not the first such case in Pune. In May, police uncovered a similar call centre in Kharadi that had been defrauding Americans for nearly a year through fake digital arrest threats, seizing laptops, cellphones, routers, and scripts, and arresting five key operators. In July, the CBI also raided another Kharadi-based facility involved in comparable scams, arresting three individuals.
