A group of men were allegedly caught making overseas calls to people based in Australia from a building in Behala, with the alleged intention to dupe them on the pretext of providing technical support to fix their Internet connections.

Police said the names and contact details of around 7,000 Australian nationals were seized from their possession during the raid on Thursday night.

Seven persons were arrested on the spot.

“The group was running a call centre on Raja Rammohan Roy Road. They would call people based in Australia posing as the technical support team of reputable Internet providers in Australia. They would convince them to pay a small registration fee to enrol their names to repair their Internet connections,” said a senior officer of the south-west division of Kolkata Police.

“Those who agreed were tricked into sharing the details of their debit or credit cards using which they would dupe the Australian nationals,” he added.

Sources in the police said the arrests were made based on specific information about the call centre being run for fraudulent activities.

An officer of Behala police station said the fraudsters had used forged documents and certificates to win the trust of their targets. They have been charged under sections of cheating, forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy.

The seven arrested persons were produced before a city court on Friday and remanded in police custody till August 7.

The police in Calcutta and the adjoining districts have caught several gangs allegedly cheating people abroad through fraudulent call centres.

In some of the cases, the police have been able to connect with the victims there and record their magisterial statements through video conferencing.