CBI nabs Indian tech exec in Global Tech Support scam hitting UK, US, and Australia
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an operative of a transnational cybercrime syndicate that allegedly ran a tech support scam targeting citizens of the UK and Australia. Nishant Walia, partner at FirstIdea, was arrested in connection with a transnational cybercrime syndicate that allegedly ran a tech support scam targeting citizens of the UK and Australia, officials said Tuesday.
The arrest of Nishant Walia,a partner at FirstIdea, was part of the agency’s ongoingOperation Chakra V against cybercriminals masquerading as technical support representatives of renowned multinational firms, including Microsoft, targeting citizens of the UK and Australia. In its crackdown, the CBI raided three premises in Noida on Monday, including a fully functional fraudulent call centre operating from the Special Economic Zone where Walia was arrested.
Following the registration of the case, the CBI closely worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), and Microsoft Corporation to trace the syndicate’s operations and identify its key actors. “The operation was precisely synchronised with the time zones of the intended victims, allowing investigators to intercept live scam calls during the raid,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
The call centre, operating under the name FirstIdea, was found to be technologically sophisticated, enabling cross-border anonymity and large-scale victim targeting, the agency said. The searches led to the seizure of substantial digital evidence, including sophisticated communication infrastructure, malicious software scripts used to manipulate victims, and documents detailing the extent of the fraud and extortion scheme. The syndicate conned overseas victims by falsely claiming that their electronic devices were compromised, then extorted payments under the pretence of offering technical support to fix fabricated issues, the spokesperson said.
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Very happy that they are caught. India should be land of truthseekers & such fraudsters should get severest of servere punishment for telling lies .