US call centre fraud: ED probe finds key accused linked to multiple cases | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Harshil Raval and Ravi Rami, named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as alleged controllers of call centres targeting US nationals from Patiala and linked operations elsewhere, have figured in earlier cybercrime cases involving similar American-victim call-centre frauds, according to court records and an investigative dossier. These names surfaced during the ED’s investigation into a call-centre case in Madhapur, Hyderabad.ED’s Hyderabad Zonal Office said Raval and Rami were allegedly controlling call centres at Patiala and Pune through deployed staff, computers and cloud-based data systems. The agency said 194 people were found working at two Patiala centres operating as DM Web Solutions, while 22 were found at a Pune centre run by Vipul Kotadiya and associates.Rami figures in Indore, Ahmedabad casesMadhya Pradesh high court records identify Rami Ravi Kumar, a resident of Odhav in Ahmedabad, in a case registered by the crime branch, Indore, involving the alleged cheating of US citizens through a call-centre fraud related to social security numbers. The case invoked IPC Sections 420, 419, 467, 468, 120-B, 109 and 34 and Section 66D of the IT Act. The prosecution alleged that Rami handled the third stage of the racket by receiving gift cards from co-accused and converting their value into Indian currency.His anticipatory bail was rejected in Feb 2023. The court recorded the prosecution’s claim that around 175 calls had been exchanged between Rami and the co-accused. The dossier also records that Ravi Rami was reported to have been arrested in an Ahmedabad cybercrime investigation in 2019 and again in a 2021 Ahmedabad cybercrime case involving alleged gift-card monetisation.Harshil booked in 2019 Ahmedabad caseIn Harshil’s case, the ED traces him to a 2019 Ahmedabad cyber cell prosecution in which Harshil Rawal was described as the owner of a call centre whose employees allegedly impersonated US Social Security Administration officials and threatened victims with the suspension of their social security numbers to obtain money.An Ahmedabad sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail on Feb 20, 2019. The accessible record describes offences involving cheating, extortion, criminal conspiracy and violations of the IT Act, but the underlying FIR number could not be recovered. The ED alleges that Raval and Rami also acted as processors, arranging the movement of victim funds through cryptocurrency, hawala and other channels before the money was converted into Indian currency or used to acquire assets. Further investigation is under way.