MOHALI, 24 June — Police in Mohali busted two illegal call centres operating out of Phase 7 and arrested 10 people in connection with a cross-border cyber scam involving bitcoin fraud, Amazon purchase scams, and PayPal hacking.
The primary operation was being run by Manmeet Singh Banwait, a resident of Sector 53, from the first and third floors of a commercial building in Phase 7, police said. Among those arrested were Anmol Malhotra and Jasneet Kaur from Kharar, Narmita from Sector 117, Gurpreet Singh from Phase 1, and Wugsam Hungue, a native of Nagaland.
Police seized five laptops, nine mobile phones, five headphones, several desktop computers, and three luxury cars during the raid. “The suspects were targeting foreign nationals by sending fraudulent emails related to bitcoin investments and fake Amazon purchases,” a senior police official said.
In a parallel crackdown, police also arrested Moriya Nath from Dwarka, Ishav Kumar from Kangra, Rinchen Vinail of Kharar, and Dolly Kumari from Jharkhand. This group was operating a similar racket and had four CPUs and five mobile phones confiscated.
According to investigators, the accused hacked PayPal accounts of foreign nationals and transferred funds through USDT (Tether cryptocurrency) and illegal hawala channels to bypass legal scrutiny.
“These were well-coordinated cyber fraud operations with an international footprint. The arrests are a breakthrough in tracking digital financial crimes involving cryptocurrency and underground money laundering,” the official added.
All accused are in police custody and further investigation is underway to trace international connections and identify other potential operatives in the network.
