Do Not Call: 61 people charged by feds in $300 million call center scam
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/do-not-call-61-people-charged-by-feds-in-300-million-call-center-scam/
Sick of “Rachel from customer service?”
Tired of those calls about your car’s warranty?
Had it up to your eyeballs with the IRS calling about your “2016 income taxes?”
This story should bring a tear of joy to your eyes.
In Houston federal court on Thursday, the kingpin of an overseas “call center” that scammed thousands of people out of millions of dollars admitted to coordinating a three-year-operation that bilked thousands of people out of millions of dollars, an ending which was lauded by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first time such a takedown had been made.
The scheme utilized callers at numerous facilities across India who used illegally obtained personal information to impersonate IRS and immigration officials.
These callers, who sounded very convincing, usually would call the most vulnerable, particularly elderly and would threaten them with arrest and jail if they did not pay off their “tax debt” owed to the U.S. government.
Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 43, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, general conspiracy to commit identification fraud, access device fraud, money laundering and impersonation of a federal officer, according to the Department of Justice.
“Hitesh Patel played a prominent role in this massive, India-base fraud scheme that bilked vulnerable Americans out of millions of dollars,” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said.
Patel is scheduled to be sentenced on April3. He is looking at a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conspiracy and five years for the general conspiracy. Both charges carry the possibility of a $250,000 fine.
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