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Officials in India Say Call Center Scam Operations Are Soaring
Nowadays, most of us have had the experience of fraudulent calls made for the purpose of scamming. Popular themes include callers posing as Microsoft (News - Alert) technicians offering to resolve problems you didn’t even realize you had on your computer. While not all of us fall for these scams, many do.
A study conducted by Truecaller and The Harris Poll found that nearly 60 million Americans report they have lost money to phone scams over the past year. The study also found that about 19 percent noted they’ve been scammed more than once. All told, it’s estimated that Americans lost $29.8 billion to phone scams from mid-2019 to mid-2020.
Experts note that the scammers are getting cleverer, and the value of their scams is rising. The average reported loss was about $502 in the most recent Truecaller report: a record.
A recent article by Mahender Singh Manral writing for the Indian Express noted that there are thousands of fake “call centers” in India that exist solely for the purpose of duping foreigners, and their employees are highly trained in the dubious art.
“According to estimates, over the past year, thousands of foreigners, mostly from the United States, have lost money to the tune of Rs 300 crore [$75 million] after falling prey to highly organized cons running from such call centers in Delhi,” wrote Singh Manral. “Often, the conmen and women pose as U.S. tax officials and talk their victims into paying up huge amounts as fines for fictitious cases of tax evasions. They are trained to speak in an American accent and paid handsomely by the masterminds — earning as much as Rs 55,000 [$745]to Rs 70,000 [$949] per month along with incentives.”
Though the Indian government pursues and shuts down many operations – 35 have been shut down in 2021 -- they’re relatively easy to get up and running again. Some owners of call center facilities will even rent to scammers. Officials in India have estimated that more than 1,000 such call centers are operational across Delhi, in areas such as Pitampura, Rohini, Shalimar Bagh, Moti Nagar, Kirti Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Janakpuri and Tilak Nagar.
“Officers said connivance of policemen with owners of call centers has also been found in several instances,” according to the Indian Express article.
Edited by Luke Bellos