Cops arrest call centre scam kingpin who 'duped' Americans

The police has arrested Sagar Thakkar alias 'Shaggy,' the alleged kingpin of a scam duping thousands of Americans of over $300 million by reaching them via call centres posing as US officials to extort money from them.

Thakkar was arrested late Friday night at the Mumbai airport following his return from Dubai and was produced on Saturday before a court which remanded him in police custody till April 13, said Thane police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Singh told reporters at press conference that Thakkar, who was living in Dubai, decided to return to India after the police initiated the process to issue Red Corner Notice (RCN) against him.

He seemed to have a thorough knowledge of computers and related technical know-how as well as that of the Indian and the US legal systems, said the commissioner, who interrogated Thakkar briefly before he was taken to the court.

Sagar was on the run since unearthing of the scam last year. The police said the racket which he ran since 2013 through at least half a dozen call centres in Thane, targeted at least 15,000 US-based tax payers with Indian tele-callers calling them up, posing as US Internal Revenue Service or immigration officials and demanding payments for non-existent debts.