Pop-Up Scam Busted! 11 Held for Hacking Computers & Emptying Bank Accounts in Noida
The police in Noida have managed to round up 11 individuals who are reportedly involved in a high-tech tech support scam targeting foreign nationals. According to investigations, these con artists, who operated from a call centre at Sector 117, used a vicious method to hack down victims' computers and siphon out money. Most of the arrested individuals were in their 20s. They were arrested on Thursday following a tip-off, but the mastermind behind the operation is still at large.
The rogue call center would flash pop-up messages to the victim's computers, which, when clicked, would crash the system. Once the victim's computer was compromised, one of the scammers would present as a representative of the Microsoft service while fixing the problem. Instead, they would hack the system, erase the bank account information of the victim, and then siphon the money using hawala channels, police reported.
It has been found that 19 laptops, 20 mobile phones, five SIM cards, and other computer peripherals were seized during the raid. Several persons arrested in this connection face charges under various sections of the IT Act and BNS sections. DCP Rambadan Singh confirmed that the mastermind is also involved in a similar case registered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
This bust is the second in the series, as another operation in August resulted in the arrest of 15 people from a call centre in Sector 59, where again US nationals were targeted with the same modus operandi. The police have asked citizens to be on their guard against unsolicited pop-up messages and tech support calls that may have lured them into this trap.
The incident highlights the rising number of fraudulent tech support scams operating in the region, especially targeting unsuspecting foreign nationals. Experts thus call for strong measures to protect personal information and to be cautious of suspicious online transactions in digital fraud cases.
Also read: Delhi police arrests Chinese national in ₹100 crore online stock trading scam
