On December 13, 2025, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in India arrested Chandra Prakash Gupta as a key culprit behind illegal call centers in Noida and Gurugram that were used to defraud US citizens with common Microsoft technical support scams from November 2022 to April 2024. How their scam worked was:
- The scammers would create fake virus popups urging their victims to contact a designated “suppoat” line.
- The agents who answer the call will pose as Microsoft technical support representatives and gain access to their victims’ computer through TeamViewer or AnyDesk, then gain access to their victims’ banking information.
- The victims will then be asked to wire funds to the scammers’ personal bank accounts on the grounds that they’re “being controlled by the Federal Reserve.”
- The money obtained would then go to bank accounts in Hong Kong, converted into crypto, liquidated into fiat currency, then sent back to the scammers through shell companies.
Gupta is currently being held without bail and subsequent raids resulted in the seizure of jewelry, four high-end vehicles, eight luxury watches, 220 bottles of expensive liquor, digital devices and several incriminating documents. Several co-conspirators, including Arjun Gulati, Abhinavb Kalra and Divyansh Goel, are still on the run at the time of writing.