Lucknow: The mastermind of the fake international call centre busted in Aliganj fled the premises an hour before the police raid, leaving behind 16 employees, including four women, working under strict surveillance and assigned to meet daily financial targets of up to Rs 1.5 lakh.Police said three teams were sent to Gujarat and West Bengal to trace Priyanshu Kushwaha, who ran the operation from an office named Nexolane Solution at Ridhya Plaza. Police are now questioning the 12 men and four women arrested from the premises to establish the scale of the operation, its financial network and the identities of those controlling it.According to police, employees were paid monthly salaries ranging from Rs 18,000 to Rs 30,000, besides free food and accommodation, creating a tightly controlled workforce recruited from outside UP.The investigation also revealed the extent of restrictions imposed on the employees. Their mobile phones were kept inside the office; they were transported between their accommodation and workplace and were not allowed to leave independently, police said. Kushwaha had rented PG accommodations, one each for male and female employees.The operation followed a multi-layered model, police said. Employees first contacted foreign victims posing as technical-support personnel, with some using fake pop-ups and remote-access software to gain control of computers. The victims were then transferred to verification and closure teams.Members of the closure team posed as FBI, US Treasury or other govt officials and they threatened their target with arrest or legal action before demanding money.“Police are now trying to determine how many foreign victims were contacted, the amount collected through the operation and whether Kushwaha was linked to other similar call centres,” said additional DCP North Naveen Kumar Singh.
