Call center boss who duped thousands in U.S. out of millions of dollars pleads guilty in Houston

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by  Gabrielle Banks Jan. 10, 2020

Call center boss who duped thousands in U.S. out of millions of dollars pleads guilty in Houston

The kingpin of an overseas call center scam that duped thousands of people out of millions of dollars admitted in Houston federal court Thursday to coordinating the three-year operation, a milestone in the multi-jurisdiction case lauded by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first-ever takedown of its kind.

The complex scheme involved callers at multiple facilities across India who used illegally obtained personal information to impersonate IRS and immigration officials. They used the details to threaten the often elderly and vulnerable people on the other end of the line with jail or deportation if they did not immediately hand over funds to clear imaginary debts they supposedly owed the U.S. government.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 43, of Ahmedabad, India, was the top boss of this operation, according to a co-defendant. Patel was extradited from Singapore to face charges in the scheme perpetrated from 2013 to 2016. In court Thursday, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and also admitted to aiding in the broader conspiracy that involved people committing identification and access device fraud as well as laundering money and impersonating federal officials.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Indian-call-center-boss-who-bilked-thousands-in-14965063.php

[roamer_1]

The complex scheme involved callers at multiple facilities across India who used illegally obtained personal information to impersonate IRS and immigration officials. They used the details to threaten the often elderly and vulnerable people on the other end of the line with jail or deportation if they did not immediately hand over funds to clear imaginary debts they supposedly owed the U.S. government.

Hahaha! I got hit by these guys numerous times.

ANY time the IRS calls, I am going to go in and see em eyeball - So these chooches got nothing from me. Threats and etc notwithstanding. Yeah, yeah, whatever. We'll talk more when I come and see ya at the local office... ROTFLMAO!

[catfish1957]

Houston Chronicle by  Gabrielle Banks Jan. 10, 2020

Call center boss who duped thousands in U.S. out of millions of dollars pleads guilty in Houston

The kingpin of an overseas call center scam that duped thousands of people out of millions of dollars admitted in Houston federal court Thursday to coordinating the three-year operation, a milestone in the multi-jurisdiction case lauded by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first-ever takedown of its kind.

The complex scheme involved callers at multiple facilities across India who used illegally obtained personal information to impersonate IRS and immigration officials. They used the details to threaten the often elderly and vulnerable people on the other end of the line with jail or deportation if they did not immediately hand over funds to clear imaginary debts they supposedly owed the U.S. government.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 43, of Ahmedabad, India, was the top boss of this operation, according to a co-defendant. Patel was extradited from Singapore to face charges in the scheme perpetrated from 2013 to 2016. In court Thursday, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and also admitted to aiding in the broader conspiracy that involved people committing identification and access device fraud as well as laundering money and impersonating federal officials.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Indian-call-center-boss-who-bilked-thousands-in-14965063.php

They need to throw his ass in the joint for the rest of his life.  I get an average of 5-8 robocalls a day, not matter how many call blocks I do.  He needs to be made an example.

[Elderberry]

I had a co-worker that sued robocallers right and left. On the first call he would demand they put his number on their do not call list, send him a copy of their do not call policy and anything else they were required to do. On the second call he would sue them. He was constantly taking time off from work to go to court. He kept that up for years until the layoffs and I lost track of him. He's probably still doing it.