WASHINGTON: The US has filed lawsuits against five companies and three individuals allegedly responsible for making hundreds of millions of fake robocalls to American consumers from abroad, mostly from India, and causing massive financial losses to the elderly and the vulnerable.Seeking a restraining order against such call centres and robocalls, the department of justice in its class action lawsuit alleged that the companies were warned many times not to place fraudulent robocalls — including government and businessimposter calls — yet they continued to do so and facilitated foreign-based fraud schemes targeting Americans.The companies named include Tollfreedeals.com, Global Voicecom Inc Global Telecommunication Services Inc and KAT Telecom Inc. The three individuals named were owners of these companies.“Robocalls are an annoyance to many Americans, and those that are fraudulent and predatory are a serious problem, often causing devastating financial harm to the elderly and vulnerable members of our society,” said US assistant attorney general Jody Hunt Robocall frauds are a significant issue in US. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 400,000 complaints allegedly imposter fraud claims of $152.9 million, which the justice department said “substantially underestimates the extent” of fraud because many do not report losses.