UK hails 'groundbreaking collaboration' with CBI to bust Noida fraud call centre
The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) on Friday revealed details of a "groundbreaking collaboration" with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alongside American teams to bust a fraud call centre scam operating from Noida and involving several victims in Britain.
The NCA said the international investigation commenced early last year after its International Liaison Officers in the US received information from tech giant Microsoft, which was then compared with City of London Police's Action Fraud Reports.
The NCA officers and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Attache in Delhi shared their intelligence with the CBI, leading to "urgent action" and the arrest of two individuals.
"The activity followed 18 months of groundbreaking collaboration between the CBI, NCA, the FBI and Microsoft - who worked together to identify the organised crime group, analyse data and target complex IT infrastructure used by fraudsters," the NCA said in a statement.
"Victims in the UK alone are believed to have lost over GBP 390,000... More than 100 UK victims had been contacted by a group offering to fix their computers for a fee, following a screen pop up that suggested their device was infected or had been hacked. In reality, the fraudsters were posing as employees of Microsoft, offering software solutions to an attack that had never taken place," it stated.
After the NCA identified that the same call centre was targeting US citizens, a partnership was agreed to share intelligence and information.
It emerged that the criminals behind the scam used a wide range of tactics to try and disguise their identity - spoofed phone numbers or Voice Over Internet Protocol to route calls through multiple servers in several countries.
"This case demonstrates the success we can have when we harness expertise from across the public and private sectors, and work hand in hand with partners abroad to target fraudsters, wherever they are," said Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC).
"It is an outstanding example of the value of the operational arrangement reached between the UK and the US last year specifically to tackle
call centre fraud
," he said.
The NCA, FBI and Microsoft went on to identify a number of key suspects based in India and compiled a file of evidence that included testimonies from victims, supported by the City of London Police.
Earlier this year during an NCA visit to India, the CBI was briefed as part of efforts to enhance ongoing work to tackle the global threat from fraud. The NCA reiterated it will continue to support the CBI to ensure justice for UK victims.
"Public-private partnerships are crucial to tackling tech support fraud as law enforcement and tech companies see different aspects of the cybercrime ecosystem. By joining forces and sharing our insights, we're able to more effectively dismantle fraudulent networks and protect vulnerable populations," said Steven Masada, Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit.
Tor Garnett, Commander for Cyber and Economic Crime at the City of London Police, said the force was committed to continuing joint efforts to ensure fraud criminals are brought to justice.
"As the national lead force for fraud, we know that combating this type of crime requires a truly collaborative approach. This operation demonstrates the strength of our partnerships - not just across UK law enforcement, but internationally and with private sector organisations," said Garnett.
UK Fraud Minister Lord David Hanson said: "As we've seen in this case, tackling fraud needs global action, and that's why international cooperation such as the new UNODC-INTERPOL Global Fraud Summit, is an important way to share knowledge and catch these criminals."
"I would like to express my gratitude to US and Indian partners for their collaboration in this operation," he added. PTI
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