Austrian police bring down scammers impersonating Interpol agents

VIENNA: An Indian criminal gang who impersonated officers from international police agency Interpol has stolen millions of euros from hundreds of victims through phone scams, Austrian police said Thursday.

The fraudsters would tell callers that their ID card numbers had been stolen, Austrian police said, and urge them to secure their money by emptying their bank accounts through the purchase of Google Play cards, for example.

They would get their victims to pass over these card numbers – and then the scammers would vanish, according to a statement sent to AFP.

The fraudsters, who operated across the world, would also pretend to work for European police agency Europol.

They made off with 2.7 million euros (US$2.8 million) in Austria alone.

Following complaints, Austrian investigators shared information with their Indian counterparts through Interpol in August.

A fake call centre was uncovered in New Delhi in September, and the gang’s three ringleaders were arrested.

Austrian police said reports of these offences peaked at around 100 a week in July, but have since dropped off completely.

“We can therefore assume that this call centre alone is behind all the crimes in this category” in Austria, the police said.