On July 17, 2026, police in Lucknow, India raided a “Microsoft technical support” scam operation as part of their statewide campaign against cybercrime: Operation Cy-Vajra. The call center was in actuality a residential apartment located within the Omaxe Residency 2 in Sector 7, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226002, India.
How their scam worked was:
- The scammers will generate fake virus popups urging their victims to call a designated toll-free “suppoat” line.
- When called, the scammers will pose as Microsoft employees and falsely claim their victims’ savings and identity were “compromised.”
- The calls then get transferred to coworkers posing as officials with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who will threaten to arrest the victims if they refuse to follow instructions.
- As the scam goes on, the scammers will send various forged official documents and remotely connect to their victims’ computer through TeamViewer and UltraViewer.
- The victims will be asked to either purchase Amazon and Walmart eGift Cards or withdraw money from their bank account, convert them into gold bars and hand them off to designated couriers, or money mules.
Seven bhenchods were arrested during the raid, with police seizing eight laptops, nine cell phones, nine headsets, four WiFi routers, two computer mice, laptop chargers and various digital evidence. Though forensic investigations are ongoing, preliminary findings have indicated that many of the calls received were routed from overseas.