Fake Indian Call Centers Dupe Thousands of Americans by Posing as Tax Collectors

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — Acting on a tip off, more than a hundred police officials led by Commissioner Parambir Singh simultaneously raided three call centers at Hari Om IT Park in Thane's Penkarpada and busted the racket. Inspector Nitin Thakrey of Thane's crime branch told Sputnik, "772 people are accused in the case. We have already arrested 72 of them. A case has been registered under sections 384, 419, 420, 34 of the IPC, section 72 (1) and 75 of the Information Technology Act and sections 25(k) of the Indian Telegraph Act."

According to police, these call centers employed personnel who would use the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to impersonate officials of the US Internal Revenue Services and threaten US citizens to either pay up a particular sum of money as settlement of tax debt or face legal consequences. Unsuspecting US citizens immediately paid the "overdue taxes" to avoid legal action via the mode of payment suggested by the fake taxman only to later realize that they had been duped.

The tele-callers employed by the call centers were trained to imitate an American accent and have duped more than 6,000 US citizens so far. They provided a fake IRS telephone number which flashed as Internal Revenue Service when an American citizen received a call. Sources said the call centers earned at least USD 0.15 mln every day through this scheme.