HYDERABAD: Three Madhapur-based fake call centres with global linkages were busted on Friday by Cyberabad police, which disclosed that at least 15 US citizens were being conned of $20,000 every 24 hours.

The scamsters operated in the guise of US Customs and Border Protection Agency representatives and Amazon customer-care executives to con foreigners and mop up millions.The three call centres raided by police include ARJ Solutions run by Md Ansari Mohirfan, AG Solutions run by Ghanchi Akib and Vertez Solutions run by Pradeep Vinod Rathod and Osman Ghani Khan.

Around 115 persons, including floor leaders of Vertez Solutions - Shivam Pradhan, Deepu Thapar were arrested.ARJ Solutions and AG Solutions run by Ansari and Akib worked in sync with their owners hailing from Gujarat.

The twin units had been operating in Hyderabad for two-and-half years with 80 tele-callers and team leaders on their payroll.

Call centre con: Crypto to cash from coupons Around 115 persons were arrested in a raid on three Madhapur-based fake call centres on Friday by Cyberabad police.

Scammers were posing as US Customs officials - Amazon executives to con US citizens.The accused procured US customer data from a web portal by paying 10 paise for each customer and set up a VOIP calling facility with 40 paise per minute call charge, said Cyberabad police commissioner M Stephen Raveendra."Tele-callers would pose as representatives of US Customs and Border Protection agency while zeroing in on their American targets, saying they intercepted a consignment of drugs dispatched to them from Mexico.

Threatening to lodge a case, the con operators would force them to cough up personal details, while telling them two addresses are linked to their database.

And US law enforcement agencies had seized drugs and suspicious monetary transactions to Mexico and Columbia in their second address," the commissioner said.After threatening to slap drug trafficking and money laundering charges, fraudsters then connect their targets to a colleague, who poses as a US marshal.

The second tele-conference then assumes a reconciliatory tone.

The conman masquerading as a marshal agrees to give a benefit of doubt, saying they can be cleared if a penalty is paid in the form of Amazon/Apple gift coupon for $5,000, said the police officer."After receiving the gift coupon code, accused sells it at a discount on paxful.com for crypto currency and converts it into USDT cryptocurrency on Trust Wallet, before encashing it through localbitcoin.com in form of cash, mirroring a hawala transaction," Cyberabad commissioner said.

The third call centre, Vertez Solutions, run by Pradeep Vinod Rathod and Osman Ghani Khan, used the same modus operandi with its tele-callers posing as Amazon customer care executives.

"They zero in on their targets, saying a laptop or iPhone has been ordered in their names.

When their targets say no such order was placed, they read out their residential address and ask them to pay a small cancellation fee," Madhapur DCP G Sundeep said.

The second gang attempts to collect about $200-$300 in gift coupons from victims.