FBI Busts Massive Call Centre Scam That Targeted Elderly Americans

On Thursday (local time), US FBI Director Kash Patel announced that authorities had shut down a large call centre scam operating from India that cheated elderly Americans.

Patel added that the two accused have pled guilty in the investigation.

In a post on X, he said, “Huge story out of FBI Boston – the FBI shut down a massive scam call center operation out of India that targeted elderly victims here in America, and two executives have now pled guilty in the investigation. These people defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans out of millions using tech support scams. This FBI dismantled them.”

“Senior scams are one of the most important but under-discussed issues in the country – here at the FBI we’re dedicated to cracking down on it with our interagency partners. Please check in on your loved ones and report any suspicious activity you may see to law enforcement – 1-800-CALL-FBI,” he added.

Former CEO Adam Young, 42, of Miami, FL, and former CSO Harrison Gevirtz, 33, of Las Vegas, NV, 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, a statement by the US Department of Justice stated.

Young and Gevirtz pleaded guilty after an investigation beginning in 2020 that led to the conviction of five India-based telemarketing fraudsters and a former employee of their call-routing company. Indian citizens Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum and Manish Kumar were convicted of charges related to telemarketing fraud schemes based in the Republic of India that targeted and defrauded Americans of millions of dollars, many of them vulnerable to fraud schemes due to age or infirmity.

The investigation also contributed to the conviction of another individual, Jagmeet Singh Virk, in the U.S. District Court for the Norther 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, as per the statement. (ANI)

(Inputs from ANI)

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