Accused ‘spoofed’ numbers to dupe victims

Sagar Thakkar and his sister Reema Thakkar, who are under the police scanner.

The accused employees of five Ahmedabad-based call centres, who extorted American citizens in the name of US tax and immigration agencies and are under the scanner of that country’s authorities, had allegedly used “spoofed” numbers to make their calls appear as if these were originating from a US federal agency.

In a typical case of spoofing of a caller ID, the telephone network is made to suggest to the receiver that the origin of the call is different from the actual one, said a source who is familiar with the US probe. This is how the callers misled the victims into paying fines after falsely threatening them with prosecution or arrest for non-existent violations, according to the source. Last week, US authorities charged 56 people and the five call centre companies for duping American nationals in the name of US agencies dealing with taxation and immigration.

As part of the conspiracy, the accused people had at times used spoofed telephone numbers to make their calls appear to be originating from a federal agency, according to the source. The accused called up US-based victims posing as US government officials or lenders and threatened victims with prosecution or arrest for purported immigration or tax violations unless the victims paid alleged fines or fees immediately, according to the source. The callers had then instructed the victims to go to a bank or an ATM to withdraw money to purchase pre-paid “stored -value cards” from retail stores and then provide their unique serial number to the accused, according to the source.

Apart from extorting American citizens in the name of US tax and immigration agencies, the employees of five Ahmedabad-based call centres also duped them via two other methods. The accused contacted them to tell them they were eligible for short-term unsecured loans, apart from government grants, and then took a processing fee for the same, but with the victims ultimately getting nothing.

The scam was in operation since 2012 and even had a few US-based accused acting at the behest of the Indian call-centre operators, allegedly in roles such as those of “data brokers” and “runners” to facilitate the selection and subsequent duping of the victims, said sources familiar with the US probe.