Payment gateway crash leaves fake BPO with $600

Pune: I Space, the fake BPO in Bavdhan busted by the Pune police on Monday. had suffered a setback after their payment gateway through which money was to be transferred, crashed. They opened another gateway within a month but failed to make it work, cyber crime branch officials of the Pune police said.Police on Tuesday had sealed a laptop allegedly used by the suspects to obtain leads of US based customers.Deputy commissioner of police (cyber, economics) Dipak Sakore said the hard disks of the two servers have been sealed and they have been sent for digital forensic analysis.Meanwhile, the three arrested youths, who ran the illegal BPO, told police they wanted to earn money, Sakore said. "The suspects told us they were supposed to get $1,800 but their customers grew suspicious and blocked the payments of $1,200 claiming that they were not satisfied with their services," Sakore said.The details of the remaining money and other transactions are in the hard disks of the servers. "We can now assume that there were more transactions using the online payment gateways," he added.The hard disks may contain vital information about voice calls made to the US customers. It will show how the US clients were tapped and were contacted. "We also suspect that they may have contacted clients in Europe and other continents which will became clear after forensic reports are obtained," he added.The suspects told police that after their US customers grew suspicious, their payment gateway crashed in November 2015. "We are verifying these details too," Sakore said.Sakore said that within a month the suspects opened another payment gateway by changing bank accounts and banks. "We have written to the banks for details of the accounts in the name of the firm and of the suspects," he said.They ran a medical business and would sell a 'pain gel' to US customers. "They used these leads," he explained.Police inspector Sunil Pawar, who is investigating the case, has written a letter to the Microsoft authorities asking them to be present before the police since the company is the primary victim .Aditya Ravindra Rathi (25) of Bavdhan, Ritesh Khushal Nawani (29) and Harish Narayandas Khushlani (26), both residents of Pimpri were arrested. Rathi spearheaded the alleged business.The callers used to tell the clients that their computers were attacked by a virus which had slowed down the processing of their computers. They removed the cookies and other files from the desktop and would charge $300 per computer to fix the problem. "It is not yet known, how many clients have paid the fees, but the suspects got $600," he said, adding that police do not believe them.