India loan scam hits Britons for £10m

Published on 13/01/2013 00:00

THOUSANDS of British people have fallen victim to a multimillion-pound ­Indian call centre and ­internet fraud.

Investigators believe the number of Britons deceived by the scam, up to 60,000, makes it one of the biggest such crimes carried out in the UK from abroad, it has been reported.

At its height, more than 1,000 people a day seeking unsecured loans with banks and finance companies were being contacted from call centres in New Delhi, with 100 of them being conned daily into signing up and paying a “processing fee” to get nonexistent cash, a newspaper reported.

A spokesman for the ­Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK’s national police agency, said: “We shared intelligence with the Indian authorities, which led to them investigating and making arrests.”

A newspaper said Indian police believe at least 
£10 million was taken from Britons seeking loans. Most lost between £90 and £250, though one man is said to have lost more than £200,000. Three Indian men have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic equipment, while others ­remain at large in the UK and India.

Details the fraudsters obtained include the fact that an individual was seeking a loan, the amount required, their telephone number, date of birth and home ­address. Then when a person called to say the victim’s details had been passed on via the business they first approached and that a loan had been approved, they were “pushing at an open door”, it was claimed.