Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday, July 27, arrested the alleged kingpin in the fake call centre case in which US citizens were targeted by the accused posing as technical support staff.
The arrested accused was identified as Vikas Kumar Nimar, aka Misty, who oversaw operations run from multiple cities across India. Nimar was produced before the court and subsequently sent to judicial custody. The ED has initiated an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a First Information Report (FIR) filed at the Madhapur police station.
According to a report in the Times of India, an investigation revealed that Nimar operated cybercrime call centres in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow and other parts of India. The ED alleged that the accused floated the call centres under VC Solutions. Analysis of bank accounts revealed huge cash deposits in the accounts of VC Solutions.
The accused confessed that the funds were received towards work in the call centre business.
While the income was projected in income tax returns as income from grocery trading and other purported business activities, the investigation had not found any corresponding legitimate business activity commensurate with the volume of transactions.
ED registered ECIR in 2023
The enforcement agency had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in 2023, alleging a large-scale organised fraud perpetrated through fake call centres targeting foreign nationals, particularly citizens of the United States.
The accused allegedly impersonated officials of government agencies and reputed private companies and induced victims to part with money through gift cards and other digital payment mechanisms.
Investigators found that the money obtained through the fraud was initially collected via gift cards and later converted into cryptocurrency. This cryptocurrency was converted into Indian currency through crypto exchanges, informal cash settlement mechanisms, and banking channels before being distributed among the operators, controllers and beneficiaries of the syndicate.
According to the ED, the cybercrime network procured customer data of US citizens through specialised call vendors and sent fraudulent emails carrying malware alerts, fake virus warnings and deceptive technical-support messages.
The fraudsters convinced the victims to call toll-free numbers controlled by the network, after which calls were routed to fake call centres.
Background of the case
In February 2026, the Hyderabad Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at six locations in Ahmedabad in connection with a money laundering investigation related to a scam in which US citizens were allegedly cheated by persons posing as American government officials.
During the searches, ED officials from Hyderabad traced cryptocurrency worth USD 12,000 from the prime accused, Aqib Ghulam Rasool Ghanchi, and transferred it to the ED’s official crypto wallet.
The agency also seized Rs 13.5 lakh in cash, recovered crucial digital evidence, and froze 31 bank accounts along with one bank locker.
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