New Delhi (TIP): The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shut down an India-based call centre operation, which defrauded several elderly American of millions of dollars under what is known as “tech support scam”.
In a post on X, the FBI’s Boston unit said the call centre was shut after “years-long investigation that led to the conviction of five telemarketing fraudsters”. “The FBI has shut down a call centre operation in India that defrauded hundreds of elderly victims here in the US and abroad out of millions of dollars through tech support scams, and two senior executives who operated a business that enabled it, have just admitted to turning a blind eye to this widespread fraud,” the post said further.
“This comes after the FBI, Boston, investigation that has resulted in the arrests and convictions of a former employee of their call routing company, and five India-based telemarketing fraudsters,” it added.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, former CEO Adam Young, 42, of Miami (Florida) and former CSO Harrison Gevirtz, 33, of Las Vegas (Nevada), have 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”.
They will be sentenced on June 16, the FBI said. Young and Gevirtz pleaded guilty after an investigation launched in 2020 led to the conviction of five India-based telemarketing fraudsters and a former employee of their call routing company. They were identified as Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum and Manish Kumar. The Indian nationals were convicted on charges related to the fraud scheme that targeted and defrauded Americans, many of them elderly or otherwise vulnerable, the statement said.
The investigation also contributed to the conviction of another individual, Jagmeet Singh Virk, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The investigation further revealed that call centres based in India utilised Young and Gervitz’s business to route their “tech fraud” scheme calls and, in some instances, advised those fraudsters on methods intended to reduce complaints and prevent account terminations.
Sources said the case was investigated by the FBI on its own and no intervention was sought from Indian probe agencies.
Young and Gevirtz 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 each pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, in violation of federal law.
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