'Your System Is Infected': ED Busts Fake Call Centres In Chandigarh That Duped Foreign Nationals

Last Updated:July 25, 2025, 10:54 IST

Fake call centres and shell companies posed as global tech troubleshooters of companies like Microsoft, duping unsuspecting American and Canadian citizens with precision.

The syndicate baited victims through fake pop-up alerts like--“Your system is infected,” “Call Microsoft Support Now”.

Each time a foreign national dialed for tech assistance, the meter started ticking – 450 to 500 dollars siphoned off in the name of “support." The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed a slick, sophisticated transnational scam that was running out of Chandigarh’s Tricity, where a nexus of fake call centres and shell companies posed as global tech troubleshooters of companies like Microsoft and others, duping unsuspecting American and Canadian citizens with precision.

Fronted by companies like FSAL Technologies Pvt Ltd, the syndicate baited victims through fake pop-up alerts like – “Your system is infected," “Call Microsoft Support Now". The pop-ups would only route them to Indian call centres posing as Microsoft, HP, or router support desks. Every call ended with a demand of 450 to 500 dollars for fixing a problem that did not exist. Victims paid, believing they were speaking to genuine tech agents. The money was routed via fake overseas firms like Bios Tech USA, controlled remotely by FSAL’s director Faisal Rashid Peerzada, said a senior ED official

Following raids across such illegal call centres, ED found no licenses, no agreements, and no real tech capacity. Just a set of trained fraudsters, and websites linked to spoofed domains like geeksworldwidesolutions.com, which is a knockoff of Geek Squad USA. The call centre staff, far from being software experts, lacked even basic BPO credentials, ED said in a statement.

The operation was cloaked in layers. Locals like Faisal and others floated shell firms in the names of relatives and friends to obscure ownership. In one case, Bios Tech was run by a close associate Arshdeep, but all backend control, payment gateway access, and operations were handled directly from India.

Another arm of the scam involved Sahu Jain, whose companies Terrasparq and Visionaire falsely claimed affiliation with CTS Mobility, a US-based firm supposedly owned by his sister Priya Jain. These entities also promised high-end services like device management and cybersecurity. In reality, they existed only to collect fraudulent payments, often recharging victims’ cards repeatedly without consent, added the ED statement.

Their websites projected glossy IT parks and professional setups. The ED found none of it existed as they used fake office photos, fake team bios, and fake promises of 24×7 support.

Madhuparna Das

Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa...Read More

Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa...

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