Three call centers operating from the Thane district of Mumbai were closed down by the Indian police for scamming American citizens. 70 people were arrested and another 630 suspects are called for further questioning.
The police say that the crooks behind the scamming call centers managed to gain more than $75 million targeting US taxpayers. They pretended to be US tax agents for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and told victims they had defaulted on their taxes. The callers spoke in a heavy US accent and used VoIP technology to hide their location. They would threaten victims with official charges, arrest, or heavy fines.
At first, the call centers employees demanded large sums on money from the victims but later they settled for smaller amounts.
According to the authorities, one of 20 victims paid the sum they were asked for, with all three call centers making between $150,000 and $225,000 per day.
The US police contacted the Indian official to request more information about the scamming crew, which apparently had American-based members as well. Allegedly, these members took 30% cut of all the scams.
The call centers owners were not arrested, says Times of India, which published the story last week. According to the publication, the police was tipped off by an angry and dissatisfied former call center employee.
The authorities have a reason to believe that these three call centers they shut down are a part of a bigger network. The operation was self-contained, with new employees being trained in-house.
The case it still under investigation and the police thinks that, once they examine the confiscated evidence, they will make more arrests. They have confiscated 852 hard disks, high-end servers, DVRs, laptops and equipment, which were valued to cost more than $150,000.
The raid was on October 4th, Tuesday, and the authorities suspect that Australian and British citizens may have been targeted as well.
