India’s CBI nabs wanted call-centre operator in $7.21M impersonation fraud targeting US nationals
CBI has arrested Ankit Satishchandra Pandey, a key accused in a transnational cyber fraud case in which illegal call centres in Ahmedabad allegedly defrauded U.S. nationals of more than US$ 7.21 million since 2024 by impersonating U.S. federal agencies over VoIP and coercing victims into cash and gold handovers.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a key accused in a transnational cyber-enabled financial fraud case in which illegal call centres operating from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, allegedly defrauded U.S. nationals of more than US$ 7.21 million.The agency named the arrested accused as Ankit Satishchandra Pandey, who it said was instrumental in establishing and running the illegal call centre. The case was registered on 8 September 2026 against him and unknown others. He was arrested on 23 September 2026. Investigation is continuing.
Modus OperandiAccording to the CBI, the syndicate has run illegal call centres from Ahmedabad since 2024. Operators allegedly impersonated officers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. Attorney’s office, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other U.S. federal agencies over VoIP calls. Victims were falsely told that their identities had been used by someone else to access child sexual abuse material through their computer systems. They were then induced to withdraw funds from their bank accounts, purchase gold, and hand it over to courier persons engaged by the syndicate in the United States. The agency has quantified losses so far at more than US$ 7.21 million. Searches and seizures. After registering the case, the CBI conducted extensive searches at Ahmedabad locations linked to the accused and seized incriminating electronic devices containing digital evidence.