Call centre scam: 20 Indian-origin people sentenced to jail in US

In a multi-million dollar India-based call center scam that cheated thousands of US citizen, over 20 Indian-origin people have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison in the United States.

The convicts are been sentenced to the prison ranges from 4 to 20 years in prison.”The stiff sentences imposed represent the culmination of the first-ever large-scale, multi-jurisdiction prosecution targeting the India call center scam industry,” US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

The US will deport some of the convicts once their sentence is completed.

“This case represents one of the most significant victories to date in our continuing efforts to combat elder fraud and the victimization of the most vulnerable members of the US public. The transnational criminal ring of fraudsters and money launderers who conspired to bilk older Americans, legal immigrants and many others out of their life savings through their lies, threats and financial schemes must recognise that all resources at the Department’s disposal will be deployed to shut down these tele-fraud schemes, put those responsible in jail, and bring a measure of justice to the victims,” Mr. Sessions said.

According to US officials, the call center scam defrauded thousands of US residents of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Prosecutors said, “The Indian call centers used various telephone fraud schemes to defraud mainly vulnerable Americans, including the elderly and legal immigrants.”

Between 2012 and 2016, the accused and their conspirators webbed a complex fraud and money laundering scheme. The individuals in Ahmedabad based call center frequently pretended to be officials from the Internal Revenue Service or US Citizen and Immigration Services and designed a plan to loot victims throughout America.

They threatened their victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not cooperate and pay them the money, which they claim is owned by the government. They obtained information from these data from brokers and other sources.

Victims, who agreed to pay the scammers, were instructed how to make a payment, including by purchasing stored value cards or wiring money.

“Once the payment was done, the call centers turned to a network of runners based in the US to liquidate and launder the extorted funds as quickly as possible by purchasing reloadable cards or retrieving wire transfers,” the Justice Department said.

five India-based call centers and 32 Indian based plotter are also charged with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. These companies are not been taken under custody yet.

Three other Indians were sentenced for their involvement in the same fraud and laundering scheme, in a previous investigation.