Istafa Ali
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently disclosed that unlawful call and scam centres in India had stolen more than $10 billion from US people. The victims were primarily elderly US nationals who were conned into paying for tech help.
According to information provided by the FBI, call centre fraud has increased, particularly this year. Americans have been conned out of more than $10.2 billion in just the first 11 months of 2022; this is a significant increase from the $6.9 billion that Americans lost to call centre scams last year.
The FBI has made the decision to designate a permanent representative at the US Embassy in New Delhi as the issue has gotten out of hand. To stop these scam call centres, this new delegate will collaborate with Indian law enforcement organisations.
Suhel Daud, the head of the FBI’s South Asia division and a legal attaché at the US embassy in New Delhi, India claimed that these con artists prey on the elderly by pretending to provide technical support, make love calls, offer business investments, etc. while stealing billions from them.
Daud continued by providing statistics, stating that the FBI complaint portal has received 0.78 million complaints this year compared to 0.85 million in 2021. Additionally, he disclosed that out of the $10 billion, $3 billion was stolen under the guise of investments, along with $2.4 billion in business emails, $1.2 billion in breaches involving personal data, $1 billion in romance, and $781 million in calls to technical support centres.
Speaking on the delicate nature of the relationship between the US and India, Daud remarked that despite the fact that this issue is unrelated to national security, these frauds are harming India’s reputation in the US.
