Mumbai: Sagar Thakkar alias ‘Shaggy’, the alleged mastermind of the Internal Revenue Service call centre scam in which thousands of Americans were defrauded to the tune of $300 million (Rs 1,928 crore), has been arrested by Thane Police.
According to Thane Police officials, Sagar, who was on the run since the unearthing of the scam last year, was placed under arrest late last night after he arrived at the Mumbai airport following his deportation from Dubai.
The scam, which operated since 2013 through at least half a dozen call centres in Thane, targeted at least 15,000 US-based tax payers, who were allegedly conned by Indian tele-callers.
The US Justice Department has charged 61 people and entities linked to the scam where call centre agents impersonated IRS, immigration and other federal officials and demanded payments for non-existent debts.