NEW DELHI: US authorities on Friday announced the sentencing of 21 members of a “telefraud scam” run out of India-based call centres that defrauded Americans and legal immigrants of millions by threatening them with arrest, deportation, imprisonment and fines for unpaid dues to the government.
All the 21 sentenced are either Indians or naturalised Americans of Indian descent, and some of them have consented to be deported back to India after the completion of their jail terms, up to 20 years for some. All of them were linked to call centres based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Announcing the sentencing, the US department of justice said 32 India-based conspirators were also named in the indictment but haven’t been arraigned yet — presumably because they remain in India. Five India-based call centers have also been named, with similar charges against them.Indian authorities have been cooperating in this case by arresting many people and shutting down call centers found involved.
A global leader in the call-centre business, India has also emerged over the years as home to fraudsters and scammers who use the same business model to target Americans. One US law enforcement agency found Indians behind tech support — when a virus alert freezes the screen, the number provided for calling to unlock it has been traced to India on many occasions.
Most victims paid up, agreeing to one of the payments methods offered by the scammers —buying a prepaid stored value card or by wiring money. Those arrested and charged in the US were mostly “runners”, operatives who collected the extorted money and transferred it to Indian accomplices through a complex set of procedures.
According to the factual basis of his plea agreement, Miteshkumar served as the manager of a Chicago-based crew of “runners” that liquidated and laundered fraud proceeds generated by callers at India-based call centers. Patel was held accountable for laundering between $9.5 and $25 million for the scheme.
Hardik Patel from Illinois, was sentenced to 188 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on the charge of wire-fraud conspiracy. Hardik consented to removal to India upon completion of his prison term. According to the factual basis of his plea agreement, he was the co-owner and manager of an India-based call centre involved in the conspiracy. Hardik was held accountable for laundering between $3.5 and $9.5 million dollars for the scheme.
Sunny Joshi was sentenced to 151 months in prison on the charge of money laundering conspiracy and 120 months in prison on the charge of naturalisation fraud (to run concurrently) followed by three years of supervised release. According to the factual basis of his plea agreement, Joshi was a member of a Houston-based crew of runners that he co-managed with his brother, co-defendant Mike Joshi alias Rajesh Bhatt.
Joshi was held accountable for laundering between $3.5 and $9.5 million. Additionally, in connection with his sentence on the immigration charge, Judge Hittner entered an order revoking Joshi’s US citizenship and requiring him to surrender his certificate of naturalisation.
