On November 30, 2025, police in Hyderabad, India raided an illegal call center in Madhapur for facilitating technical support scams against Australian nationals. How their scam worked was
- The scammers will generate fake “security alert” emails and text messages falsely claiming that the victim’s device was “at risk of being hacked,” urging them to contact a “customer support helpline.”
- Once the scammers gain remote access to their victims’ device through AnyDesk, they will gain access to the victims’ banking applications in an attempt to siphon funds from their accounts.
- The money siphoned would first go to bank accounts of Indian nationals living in Australia (money mules) and then to their kingpins through hawala channels.
Nine individuals from "Ridge IT Solutions were arrested during the raid:
- Yepuri Ganesh, a 30-year-old manager from Khammam
- Marampadu Chennakesava, a 26-year-old manager from Khammam
- Moumita Mandal, a 27-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Ijaz Ahmed, a 42-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Sambit Roy, a 27-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Shanik Banerjee, a 24-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Moumita Malik, a 33-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Shilpi Samaddar, a 33-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
- Kunal Singh, a 37-year-old telecaller from Kolkata
Police have also frozen 45 Australian bank accounts linked to the transactions and seized laptops, desktops, cell phones, hard drives and server systems used to run the fake call center.