A YouTuber allegedly hacked into the CCTV cameras of an India-based scam office and gathered enough evidence of fraud to alert local police, eventually leading to five arrests.
The most recent video uploaded by Scambaiter on Sunday, titled “I’ve arrested scammers on their CCTV cameras!”, has been viewed nearly a million times at the time of writing.
In the 20-minute clip, viewers get an inside look at CCTV footage captured from June 13-24, starting with video of the alleged scammers at work, posing as Best Buy’s Geek Squad tech support staff, and ending with their arrest. by the local police in Punjab, India.
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As can be seen in the video, the scam office is surprisingly similar to any other office, with rows of desks neatly separated by dividers.
There are always two to five people in the room, sometimes with headphones on, sometimes eating at one of the small middle tables.
They also look relatively young, most likely in their twenties or thirties, and are dressed in comfortable casual clothes or slacks.
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Throughout the clip, viewers can see and hear several examples of the alleged scammers calling potential victims.
“We don’t want you to be compromised or lose any of your identity,” begins one of the many examples of scams. “That’s why, you know, your computer is giving us the warning so you can call Microsoft folks and have this thing fixed for you.”
“I must go ahead and diagnose your computer network. You can leave the computer alone. I’m working on it, okay? It takes at least 30 to 40 minutes to diagnose your computer and see what’s going on. And I’ll call you back as soon as I have the reports ready, sir.’
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According to the narrator, the scammers then continue eating for the next hour and then call the victim back to charge “a ridiculous amount of money” for implementing a fake “firewall.”
Another man is instructed to call the victim back to ensure that everything has been resolved and that a one-year security program has been put in place. The total cost for the fraudulent services comes to $339 “including all taxes and everything.”
After collecting evidence, Scambaiter is said to have sent messages to several police stations in the Punjab area. They also hacked into the scammers’ computers and informed all victims of the fraud.
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Finally, on June 24 and as seen in the video, a group of police officers enter the building, cut off the electricity to the first and second floors and allegedly arrest five of the main scammers.
Scambaiter ends the video with a police report detailing the scammers’ allegations and the media coverage of the incident.
Scambaiter regularly uploads scambaiting videos on their channel in which they “destroy scammers” and “their operation” by “hacking” their computers.
Featured image via scambaiter