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India: CBI cracks down on cybercrime syndicate scamming UK, Australian citizens
The syndicate posed as technical support staff of reputed multinational companies, including Microsoft
- PUBLISHED: Tue 8 Jul 2025, 6:21 PM
India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has cracked down on a transnational cybercrime syndicate running a sophisticated tech support scam targeting citizens of the United Kingdom and Australia, as part of their Operation Chakra-V.
The syndicate's call centre was operating under the name FirstIdea. The key operative partner of FirstIdea has been arrested, the CBI said in a statement.
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The syndicate posed as technical support staff of reputed multinational companies, including Microsoft. The fraudsters were cheating foreign nationals by falsely claiming that their devices were compromised, and extorted money under the guise of resolving non-existent technical issues.
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The CBI collaborated closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Crime Agency (UK), and Microsoft Corporation, to trace the syndicate's operations and locations.
Searches were carried out at three locations in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, including at a fully functional fraudulent call centre operating from the Noida Special Economic Zone. The operation was meticulously timed with the time zones of the victims, resulting in the detection of live scam calls in progress during the raids, the CBI said in a statement.
During the searches, the CBI seized extensive evidence, including advanced calling infrastructure, malicious scripts used to deceive victims, and documents revealing the scale of the fraud and extortion. Firstldea, was found to be technologically sophisticated, enabling cross-border anonymity and large-scale victim targeting.
The arrested partner is being produced before the Special CBI Court today, July 8.
