Panaji, Aug 9 (IANS): Goa police on Wednesday busted a fake call centre and arrested 18 accused persons who were cheating US citizens on the pretext of facilitating loans.

During the raid 13 laptops, 13 mobile phones, four modems and four routers, along with other accessories worth Rs 15 lakh were seized.

Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch), Nidhin Valsan, said that the raid was conducted at a bungalow in Porvorim, and 18 persons were apprehended from the call centre.

According to Valsan, the accused persons were procuring personal details of US citizens, who applied for different types of loans in their country.

“The accused persons were calling them through Google Voice application installed on their mobile phones and laptops by impersonating as staff of E-loan Company or Merchant Cash Advance Company under the pretext of disbursing loans to them,” the officer said.

“The accused persons were inducing the victims to avail the loan amount as per the requirements and used to ask to pay processing fee/security deposit of 10 per cent for securing the loan,” he said, sharing details of the modus operandi.

The accused persons were directing the victims to pay processing fee/security deposit through online options such as Google Pay gift card, Apple Pay gift card, Walmart gift card and Target gift card.

“The duped amount was then transferred by an agent in the US to the kingpin Sagar Mehtani through hawala transactions. Mehtani and his wife Bansari Tanavani are the main accused persons,” Valsan said.