Bengaluru: Police bust China-Pakistan linked call centre, arrest 16 in cyber fraud

Bengaluru: China-Pakistan call centre busted

Bengaluru police raided an illegal call centre in HSR Layout, allegedly part of an international cybercrime syndicate with connections to China and Pakistan, arresting 16 people. The owner of the firm remains at large.

According to Times of India report, authorities received a tip-off on 7 October that Cybits Solution, located in HSR Layout I Sector, employed 25 people to defraud individuals through a ‘digital arrest’ scam. A police team carried out a raid at around 2am, finding 16 persons at work.

A senior officer explained that the raided call centre represented just one layer of a larger syndicate running multiple such hubs across cities. “We are tracing financial trails and technical evidence to identify other nodes in the network,” he said. “The company had been operating for over a year and recruited unemployed youths, training them to impersonate police, CBI, ED, or Trai officials.”

The accused allegedly contacted victims, threatening them with arrest over fabricated money-laundering, narcotics, or harassment complaints, coercing them into transferring money. Police stated that the call centre’s owner had rented the premises and maintained links with a wider international network. “The operation is part of a large syndicate with links to China and Pakistan. Once the main accused is apprehended, we expect to learn more about the chain of operations,” the officer added.

The 16 arrested employees were produced before court and remanded in judicial custody. Investigators, who have information that the same syndicate operates two more offices in Bengaluru, have sought body warrants to question them further. Laptops, mobile phones, electronic devices, and other material evidence were seized from the premises.

Harish Kumar PM, inspector of HSR Layout police station, relayed the tip-off to senior officers and sought permission to conduct the raid. Investigations revealed that the company maintained detailed databases of potential targets, including Aadhaar and mobile numbers. Fraudsters gained credibility by reciting accurate Aadhaar details and claiming criminal cases and arrest warrants were pending.

Victims were kept under “digital arrest,” forced to remain on video calls under the guise of a virtual investigation. During this period, personal and financial information, including bank balances and property records, was extracted. Funds were then siphoned off via mule accounts under the pretext of account verification.

A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Bengaluru police have conducted several such raids in recent months targeting call centres involved in cyber fraud and online investment scams.