{"id":1303739,"date":"2025-12-16T08:27:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T02:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1303739"},"modified":"2025-12-16T08:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T02:58:01","slug":"fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Microsoft &#8216;Support Staff&#8217; Arrested In Bengaluru After Rs 13.5 Crore Heist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Bengaluru police have recently busted a transnational cybercrime syndicate which was operating from Whitefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-11-2-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-1024x576-1280x720-2-1024x576-1-1280x720-1-1024x576-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Fake Microsoft 'Support Staff' Arrested In Bengaluru After Rs 13.5 Crore Heist\" class=\"wp-image-1303743\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-11-2-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-1024x576-1280x720-2-1024x576-1-1280x720-1-1024x576-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-11-2-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-1024x576-1280x720-2-1024x576-1-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-11-2-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-1024x576-1280x720-2-1024x576-1-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Did This Happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have arrested 21 suspects who allegedly posed as Microsoft technical support staff to defraud foreign nationals as per the media <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneycontrol.com\/news\/trends\/bengaluru-21-microsoft-support-staff-held-for-cheating-150-us-uk-victims-of-rs-13-5-crore-13721349.html\/amp\">reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moving ahead they informed that they have got a tip-off, sleuths from the cyber command\u2019s special cell and the Whitefield cybercrime division raided Musk Communications on November 14 and 15.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They continued the seize of computers, laptops, hard disks, mobile phones, and other devices during the two-day operation at the firm\u2019s office on the sixth floor of Delta building, Sigma Soft Tech Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 21 staffers present were appeared before a local court and remanded in police custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Targeting Almost 150 Victims In Us &amp; UK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, the gang has targeted at least 150 victims in the US and UK since August, coercing each to deposit around $10,000 (approximately Rs 13.5 crore) into Bitcoin ATMs as per the information provided by the investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A senior IPS officer who is known to the development said, \u201cWe are in the process of extracting the bank details of the victim customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further adding, \u201cSo far, we have found that victims were made to deposit money in bitcoins through various kiosks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It appears that the accused here allegedly impersonated Microsoft global technical support staff and cited fabricated \u2018Federal Trade Commission (FTC) violations\u2019 to frighten victims.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;They extorted large sums for bogus security fixes and compliance procedures, under this pretext, out of these, \u201cThree kingpins are still at large. They have been targeting victims in the UK and USA since 2022,\u201d said the investigating officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all this, the Musk Communications rented a 4,500 sq ft office in August for Rs 5 lakh a month, according to the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides this, the gang has deployed malicious Facebook ads targeting US users and \u201cThese ads contained embedded code masquerading as legitimate security alerts or service links. Once a user clicked on the ad, the code froze the computer and triggered a pop-up claiming to be from Microsoft global technical support, displaying a fake helpline number,\u201d explained the investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once this happens, when the victims tries to contact the number, the fraudsters claimed the user\u2019s computer was hacked, the IP address compromised, and banking data at risk and then they coerced the victims into paying hefty sums via Bitcoin ATMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all this, the Musk Communications employed 83 people, of which 21 technical staff were directly involved in the scam said the Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These employees were paid monthly salaries ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime the police has arrested an individual identified as Ravi Chauhan from Ahmedabad, who recruited around 85 staffers, was arrested last month, taking the total arrests to 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bengaluru police have recently busted a transnational cybercrime syndicate which was operating from Whitefield. How Did This Happen? They have arrested 21 suspects who allegedly posed as Microsoft technical support staff to defraud foreign nationals as per the media reports. Moving ahead they informed that they have got a tip-off, sleuths from the cyber [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1303743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[7680,109],"class_list":["post-1303739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-fake","tag-microsoft"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fake Microsoft &#039;Support Staff&#039; Arrested In Bengaluru After Rs 13.5 Crore Heist - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fake Microsoft &#039;Support Staff&#039; Arrested In Bengaluru After Rs 13.5 Crore Heist - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bengaluru police have recently busted a transnational cybercrime syndicate which was operating from Whitefield. How Did This Happen? They have arrested 21 suspects who allegedly posed as Microsoft technical support staff to defraud foreign nationals as per the media reports. Moving ahead they informed that they have got a tip-off, sleuths from the cyber [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T02:57:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T02:58:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-11-2-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-1024x576-1280x720-2-1024x576-1-1280x720-1-1024x576-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/fake-microsoft-support-staff-arrested-in-bengaluru-after-rs-13-5-crore-heist\/\",\"name\":\"Fake Microsoft 'Support Staff' Arrested In Bengaluru After Rs 13.5 Crore Heist - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; 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