Zelle and Apple Gift Cards are used for laundering cybercrime proceeds, India's call centre raid reveals

New Delhi, 19 September 2026, Cyber and special staff teams of Delhi Police raided three residential premises in Meenakshi Garden, Ajay Enclave and Kirti Nagar upon an intelligence input regarding a call centre. By the following afternoon, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Hareshwar V. Swami briefed the press about the premises being used as illegal international call centres aimed at people in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The force released the briefing on its official X account with video of the press conference and of detained suspects standing behind seized machines.

Modus Operandi

The DCP briefed the media and said the raids followed specific intelligence and technical inputs. The 23 arrested people, he said, included alleged owners and organisers, managers, telecallers and a person described as a “banker.”

“The accused allegedly posed as Apple/iOS and Microsoft technical-support or customer-care personnel and used internet-based calling applications to contact foreign nationals.”

“The victims were allegedly induced to make payments through Apple gift cards or Zelle. The payment details were subsequently circulated among members of the network for collection and conversion of the fraudulent proceeds.”

Police listed recoveries as two cars (Thar and a Grand Vitara), 27 laptops, 28 mobile phones, 11 routers, 36 headphones, 25 adapters and ₹79,200 in cash. Digital devices are under examination. Further investigation is under way.

Use of Apple Gift Card and Zelle

Perpetrators used Apple gift cards and Zelle for transferring the crime proceeds. Scammers use it because it can be easily redeemed and sold on without needing the physical card - just the code. Victim is tricked into buying cards and reading the code over phone, the balance is drained instantly. For laundering, gangs steal/tamper cards from racks or use victim-funded cards to buy iPhones/laptops and ship them abroad to resell for clean cash. Apple blocks buying other gift cards with it to prevent fraud and money laundering.

According to the investigation described in the briefing, callers posing as Apple or Microsoft staff transferred victims to people posing as senior officials or “bankers.” The alleged demand was not an open-ended ransom. Police say it was typically between USD 149 and USD 499. Victims were then allegedly told to pay with Apple gift cards or through Zelle. Those payment details were then shared inside the group.

Apple does not ask customers to read out gift-card codes to “clear a security alert,” “unlock an account,” or “verify a technician.” Once a gift-card code is handed over and redeemed, recovery is usually poor. Zelle, widely used by US bank customers for person-to-person transfers, moves money quickly. Banks often treat an authorised Zelle payment as difficult to reverse. Police are therefore treating gift-card codes and Zelle transfers as the alleged collection layer of the case. Seized phones and laptops, they say, contain payment screenshots that are now part of the forensic file. FBI/CFPB have advised reporting Zelle fraud to FBI IC3 at ic3.gov and CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.

The second half of Swami’s sentence is the organisational claim. Police are alleging a hand-off: caller to “banker,” then circulation of payment details for collection and conversion. That is why they seized group chats as well as hardware, and why they say the hierarchy is still being mapped.

Accused List & Role

What is not yet known

Police have not announced a completed dollar loss figure for this file, a chargesheet, or convictions. They have announced an intelligence-led, three-site raid, 23 arrests, a named payment method, and a live forensic examination of call logs, overseas number lists, victim-related data and payment screenshots.