U.S authorities shut down an India-based call centre operation which targeted the elderly and vulnerable American population through tech support scams, after a year-long investigation, leading to the conviction of five Indian nationals.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Boston said in a social media post on Wednesday that the investigation also led to the arrest and conviction of an ex-employee of the call-routing company used by the scammers.
The call centre operation allegedly targeted hundreds of elderly victims across the United States and abroad, defrauding them of millions of dollars. Two senior executives who operated a business that facilitated the scam admitted to ignoring the situation.
FBI Boston posted on X, “This comes after an FBI Boston investigation that has resulted in the arrests & convictions of a former employee of their call routing company, and five India-based telemarketing fraudsters. Our senior citizens deserve honor, respect, and protection, and if you target them, we will do everything we can to bring you to justice.”
The U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island issued a statement that Adam Young of Miami and Harrison Gevirtz of Las Vegas admitted to operating a business that provided telecommunications-related services, including telephone numbers, call routing services, call tracking, and call forwarding services, to customers they knew were engaged in tech-support fraud schemes.
Young and Gevirtz pleaded guilty after a probe began in 2020, which led to the conviction of five India-based scammers and a former employee of their company.
Indian nationals Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum, and Manish Kumar were convicted over charges related to India-based telemarketing fraud schemes that targeted and defrauded Americans, many of them elderly or vulnerable, according to the statement.
The U.S District Court for the Northern District of California convicted Jagmeet Singh Virk, who was also involved in the scam.
