Fake Viagra, Cialis Sold to Americans: Mumbai Crime Branch Busts International Pharma Call-Centre Scam
Fraud
Mumbai: In a major crackdown on an international online fraud network, the Mumbai Crime Branch (Unit 9) has busted a fake pharmaceutical call centre that allegedly sold counterfeit Viagra and other controlled medicines to US nationals by posing as representatives of reputed American drug companies.
The racket, which introduced itself to outsiders as Team Grand 9 Security Services LLP, was operating from a commercial premises in Kevnipada on S.V. Road in Amboli, Jogeshwari (West), and had reportedly been active for the past six to seven months.
Acting on specific intelligence, Unit 9 conducted a raid around 2:00 am on December 4, 2025, detained key operators on the spot and uncovered a full-fledged telemarketing setup where callers used VoIP systems, assumed American-sounding names such as “Mike”, “Alex”, “James”, “Shawn” and “Steven”, and targeted US citizens whose private data had been illegally sourced.
The callers allegedly pitched medicines like Viagra, Cialis and Tramadol, offered them as if they were authorised sellers, collected payments in US dollars through unlawful channels, and ran the operation without any valid licence or agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Eight individuals have been arrested in the case: Mohammad Aamir Iqbal Shaikh (40), Mahir Iqbal Patel (26), Mohammad Shabib Mohammad Khalil Shaikh (26), Mohammad Ayaz Parvez Shaikh (26), Adam Ehsanullah Shaikh (32), Aryan Mushaffir Qureshi (19), Amaan Aziz Ahmed Shaikh (19) and Hashmat Jamil Jariwala (29). Two of them — Mahir Iqbal Patel and Mohammad Aamir Iqbal Shaikh — are described as partners running the call-centre operations. The alleged mastermind Muzaffar Shaikh (43), along with his aide Aamir Maniyar and others, fled before the raid and remains absconding.
Police allege the group conspired to project themselves as legitimate pharma representatives, created specialised systems for international calling, used illegally obtained foreign data, routed earnings through undeclared channels, and failed to pay any taxes, thereby causing significant financial loss to the Government of India. Officers also recovered laptops, headsets, pen drives, hard drives and other equipment believed to contain client databases, transaction logs and scripts used to deceive victims.
All eight arrested accused were produced before the Esplanade Court on Thursday and remanded to police custody till December 10, 2025, enabling investigators to examine the seized equipment, trace the international money trail and determine how many US nationals were duped. Forensic experts will analyse every device to determine the scale of data theft, the origin of counterfeit medicines and financial movements linked to the operation. According to Daijiworld, investigators consider this a serious cross-border pharmaceutical scam with strong international linkages and expect more arrests as evidence unfolds.
A parallel report from The420 describes the same call-centre as part of a wider global pharma-fraud ecosystem that used Mumbai as a hub to push controlled medicines to American consumers, highlighting the scale and sophistication of the network dismantled by Mumbai Police.
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