Indian-origin man arrested in Canada for alleged involvement in transnational telephone scams

A 25-year-old Indian-origin man in Canada has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a series of transnational telephone scams, wherein he was recruited by overseas scammers to process and launder locally-received money, police said.

Abhinav Bector, who lives in Brampton, Ontario, has been charged with fraud of over USD 5,000, possession of the proceeds of crime and money laundering, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The arrest came following an investigation, named Project OCTAVIA, initiated by the RCMP in October 2018 to combat telephone scams and other interrelated frauds.

"To date, 10 individuals have been charged with respect to this investigation," the statement said.

"These telephone fraudsters, operating from overseas, have been targeting the Canadian public since 2014. Despite a number of police raids on illegal call centres in India, and arrests in Canada, these fraudsters continue to modify their deceitful pitch and target Canadians," it said.

Earlier in October, 22-year-old Naman Grover, another Indian-origin man, was arrested in the same case. PTI SCY SCY