New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a key operative of a cybercrime syndicate from Noida for running a tech support scam targeting citizens of the UK and Australia.

Nishant Walia, partner of the company FirstIdea, was arrested on Monday as part of the federal probe agency’s ongoing Operation Chakra-V directed at transnational cyber criminals.

Walia was produced in a Special CBI court on Tuesday, where the CBI sought his custody for interrogation.

Reiterating its commitment to combating the growing menace of cybercrime and resolve to work with domestic and international partners, the CBI said that they collaborated closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Crime Agency (UK), and Microsoft Corporation to trace the syndicate’s operations and locations.

Earlier, the probe agency carried out searches at three locations in Noida, including at a fully functional fraudulent call centre operating from the Noida Special Economic Zone.

“The operation was meticulously timed with the time zones of the victims, resulting in the detection of live scam calls in progress during the raids,” said a CBI statement.

Acting on credible intelligence, the CBI registered an FIR to investigate the syndicate, which posed as technical support staff of reputed multinational companies, including Microsoft, it said.

The fraudsters were cheating foreign nationals by falsely claiming that their devices were compromised and extorting money under the guise of resolving non-existent technical issues, the CBI said.

During the searches, the CBI seized extensive evidence, including advanced calling infrastructure, malicious scripts used to deceive victims, and documents revealing the scale of the fraud and extortion.

The syndicate’s call centre, operating under the name FirstIdea, was found to be technologically sophisticated, enabling cross-border anonymity and large-scale victim targeting, said the statement.

A senior official said in a statement that the CBI remains committed to combating the growing menace of cybercrime and reiterates its resolve to work with domestic and international partners to dismantle such syndicates and bring perpetrators to justice.

Through Operation Chakra-V and similar initiatives, the Bureau continues to strengthen its capabilities to detect, investigate, and prosecute cybercriminals operating across borders, it said.

–IANS

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