SEVERAL India-based call centres and their directors have been charged by US authorities in an alleged conspiracy to defraud Americans by posing as officials from the government pension system and the tax agency in tens of millions of phone calls.
The six companies and their directors were charged with conspiring with a company that provides telephone services over the internet, E Sampark, and its director, Guarav Gupta, "to forward tens of millions of scam calls to American consumers", the Justice Department said. That company and Gupta had been charged in November 2021 in connection with the alleged scam.
“Scam robocalls cause emotional and financial devastation to victims, particularly our vulnerable and elderly populations,” said US Attorney Kurt Erskine. “These India-based call centres allegedly scared their victims and stole their money, including some victims’ entire life savings.”
The call centres and their directors placed the initial scam calls and the provider of the internet phone service known as VoIP forwarded those calls into this country to attempt to defraud Americans, according to a statement from the US Justice Department.
“The defendants engaged in multiple scams, often targeting the most vulnerable members of society. The success of this investigation is the result of a collaborative effort between Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the dedicated staff at the United States Attorney’s Office," said J Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General.
The India–based callers direct the victims to pay upfront fees to demonstrate their ability to repay the loan. At times, the callers direct victims to provide their bank account information and make it appear as though they had deposited funds into the victims’ accounts, the statement said.
According to the Justice Department, the callers then tell the victims to withdraw the funds and transfer them via wire transfer and gift cards. After the victims send the funds, the deposits that the callers supposedly made bounce. The victims receive nothing in return.
The call centres and their directors charged are, Achivers A Spirit of BPO Solutions Private Limited and Manu Chawla, Fintalk Global and Sushil Sachdeva, Nitin Kumar Wadwani, and Swarndeep Singh alias Sawaran Deep Kohli, Global Enterprises and Dinesh Manohar Sachdev, Shivaay Communication Private Limited and Gaje Singh Rathore, SM Technomine Private Limited and Sanket Modi, Technomind Info Solutions and Rajiv Solanki.
The US TIGTA is investigating the case and assistant US Attorney J Elizabeth McBath is the prosecutor, the statement further said.
