Bengaluru, May 21 (IANS) The Karnataka State Cyber Command has busted fake call centres operating in Bengaluru in the name of “Quick Book”, a prominent US-based accounting company, and arrested two persons for allegedly cheating several American citizens.

According to a press note issued on Wednesday by the Karnataka State Cyber Command, the raids were conducted as part of a special drive against cyber fraud across the state. The press note was issued by Director General of Police, Cyber Command, Pronab Mohanty.

Based on specific intelligence inputs, officials of the Cyber Crime Police Station (South East), along with personnel from the Special Cyber Cell, carried out coordinated raids at four different locations in Bengaluru where the fake call centres were allegedly operating.

Police said the accused were impersonating “Quick Book” and targeting US citizens by offering counterfeit tax advice, fake licensing and renewal services, and fraudulent licence keys. They allegedly collected huge sums of money from victims under the guise of service charges and technical support assistance.

Investigators said the call centre staff used fake identities and names resembling those of US officials to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims before defrauding them.

During the raids, police seized several incriminating materials allegedly used in the fraud, including 44 SSDs, two mobile phones, two laptops, nine CPUs, pre-written scripts used for conversations with victims and various other electronic accessories.

The arrested accused have been identified as Prashanth from Delhi and Akash from Uttar Pradesh.

According to the Cyber Command, the accused had allegedly floated a company named “Circle Square LLC” and used multiple shell companies to siphon off large amounts of money from US citizens.

Police said further investigation was underway to determine the methods through which the money was collected, the bank accounts used for transferring funds and the manner in which the proceeds of the crime were liquidated.

It may be recalled that in October 2025, 16 persons were arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly running a sophisticated online fraud racket through a fake call centre.

The accused, who were operating under the name Cybits Solutions Pvt Ltd, allegedly lured young men and women from different parts of the country with job offers, trained them in cyber fraud operations and directed them to target unsuspecting US citizens.

The victims were allegedly threatened with fabricated charges such as drug offences and money laundering and were told that investigative agencies or police authorities had issued arrest warrants against them. They were then allegedly coerced into transferring money to the fraudsters’ accounts by placing them under so-called “digital arrest”.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused uploaded fraudulent job postings on platforms such as Work India and LinkedIn, offering employment and accommodation at call centres claiming to provide online information services to the USA, Canada and other countries. Young individuals from various states were brought to Bengaluru, with arrangements made for accommodation, transport and food at HSR Layout and BTM Layout.

“After three weeks of telecaller training, they were instructed to impersonate officials from the US Border Security Force, US Postal Service and US Customs and Border Protection,” the Bengaluru Police said in a statement.

–IANS

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