Archive · 28 Dec 2025
Fake Call Centres Spread in Maharashtra's Hinterland
Fake call centres in Maharashtra are moving from big cities to smaller towns.
They use cheap apartments and the internet to trick people in other countries.
The police are finding and shutting down these centres, but new ones keep popping up because it's easy to set them up.
These centres do bad things like fake investments and selling illegal medicines.
The government is trying to stop them, but it's hard because many people use the internet, and the scammers hide well.
Fake call centres in Maharashtra have spread from metros to tier 2 cities and industrial townships.
These centres exploit cheap real estate, reliable internet, and English-speaking youth with BPO experience.
Law enforcement faces challenges due to weak internet monitoring, lax business verification, and fragmented oversight.
Recent raids by the Maharashtra Police and CBI have targeted these centres, with the ED tracing money trails.
The centres are classified into financial (investment, insurance fraud) and non-financial (tech support, illegal medicine sales) scams.
- Who
- Fraudulent call centre operators and their employees, often with prior BPO experience
- What
- Fake call centres running global scams from Maharashtra's hinterland
- When
- Ongoing, with recent raids in 2024
- Where
- Tier 2 cities and industrial townships in Maharashtra, including Igatpuri, Nashik, and Aurangabad
- Why
- Due to cheaper real estate, reliable internet, weak oversight, and availability of English-speaking youth
- Location
- Tier 2 cities and industrial townships in Maharashtra, including Igatpuri, Nashik, and Aurangabad
- Enablers
- Cheaper real estate, reliable internet, English-speaking youth, and weak oversight
- Types of Scams
- Financial (trading, loan, insurance fraud) and non-financial (tech support, illegal medicine sales)
- Regulatory Gaps
- Weak internet monitoring, lax business verification, fragmented oversight, and limited police coordination
- Recent Actions
- CBI raids in August and September 2024, ED tracing money trails
- Workforce
- Computer-literate, English-speaking youth from semi-urban districts
- Police Classification
- Financial and non-financial call centres
- Operational Setup
- Apartments with basic infrastructure, VoIP services, and bogus registrations