New Delhi, Oct 21 (Bureau) Austrian delegation has called on the officials of CBI and communicated their appreciation of the prompt investigation undertaken by the Indian agency, due to which the frauds have drastically reduced in Austria and other neighbouring countries, a Central Bureau of Investigation’s statement said. The appreciation was communicated during the ongoing 90th International General Assembly (IGA), INTERPOL conference in New Delhi. “ The two agencies will further collaborate in the ongoing investigation,” the statement added. “(The) Austrian delegation met the officers of CBI and communicated their deep appreciation of the prompt investigation undertaken by the Indian Agency, due to which the frauds have drastically reduced in Austria and other neighbouring countries,” the statement maintained. “As a shining example of International Cooperation amongst police authorities, acting on some inputs from some western countries, the CBI registered a case and recently conducted searches on a call centre at Shadi Khampur village, New Delhi, where victims from foreign countries were being duped by the accused, impersonating law enforcement/Europol officers, telling them that their identities were stolen and crime pertaining to the narcotics, drugs were committed in their names.
“In order to clear themselves of this suspicion, the victims were compelled to transfer their assets/money to a trust account through bank transfers, crypto wallets, gift card codes or voucher codes.” During the course of investigation, another call centre at Noida was also traced and raided by CBI. During the operation, an amount of 25.83 bitcoins (approx.) and Rs 30,92,702 (approx.) available in different wallets of the accused have been frozen along with an amount of Rs 30,43,025 (approx.), the federal agency maintained. On the sidelines of 90th INTERPOL General Assembly, the delegation from India has had bilateral meetings with delegations from several countries to discuss matters related to police cooperation inter alia for enhancement of criminal intelligence sharing; geolocation of fugitives and criminals; combating terrorism, terror financing and online radicalization; coordinating efforts to prevent cybercrimes and online child sexual exploitation, the CBI said. Bilateral meetings were already held so far with the UK, USA, Australia, UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Bhutan, Namibia, Bahrain, Russia, Canada, Oman, Serbia, Malaysia and Mongolia. Another such meeting was also held with Europol to discuss the strengthening of police cooperation and a working arrangement for cooperation with Europol.