Case No.: 4:16-cr-385s

Description of case

Charges have been filed against 56 individuals and five companies in India, who are alleged to be part of a transnational criminal organization that has victimized tens of thousands of persons in the United States through fraudulent schemes that have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

The indictment alleges that the defendants were involved in a sophisticated fraudulent scheme organized by conspirators in India, including a network of call centers in Ahmedabad, India. Using information obtained from data brokers and other sources, call center operators allegedly called potential victims while impersonating officials from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. According to the indictment, the call center operators then threatened potential victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay taxes or penalties to the government. If the victims agreed to pay, the call centers would then immediately turn to a network of U.S.-based co-conspirators to liquidate and launder the extorted funds as quickly as possible by purchasing prepaid debit cards or through wire transfers. The prepaid debit cards were often registered using misappropriated personal identifying information of thousands of identity theft victims, and the wire transfers were directed by the criminal associates using fake names and fraudulent identifications.

Official Press Releases

24 Sentenced in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Last US Defendant Pleads Guilty in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting US Victims

Four More Men Convicted in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Two More Plead Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Two More Defendants Plead Guilty in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Fourth Defendant Pleads Guilty for Role in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Third Indian National Pleads Guilty for Role in Multimillion Dollar India-based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Second Indian National Pleads Guilty for Role in Multi-Million Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Indian National Pleads Guilty for Role in Multi-Million Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Dozens of Individuals Indicted in Multimillion-Dollar Indian Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

Important Dates

07/18/18 - SENTENCING - Sunny Joshi, Miteshkumar Patel, Fahad Ali, Jagdishkumar Chaudhari, Dilip R. Patel, Viraj Patel, Harsh Patel, Rajesh Bhatt, Bhavesh Patel

07/19/18 - SENTENCING - Jerry Norris, Nisarg Patel, Montu Barot, Praful Patel, Dilip A. Patel, Nilesh Pandya, Rajesh Kumar

07/20/18 - SENTENCING - Hardik Patel, Rajubhai Patel, Ashvinbhai Chaudhari, Bharatkumar Patel, Nilam Parikh

Previous:

03/23/18 - Sentencing - Asmitaben Patel (24 months)

11/13/17 - Re-Arraignment - Miteshkumar Patel

10/27/17 - Re-Arraignment - Sunny Joshi and Jagdishkumar Chaudhari

10/17/17 - Re-Arraignment - Rajesh Bhatt

10/05/17 - Re-Arraignment - Praful Patel

09/22/17 - Re-Arraignment - Jerry Norris

09/08/17 - Re-Arraignment - Dilipkumar Ramanlal Patel

09/08/17 - Re-Arraignment - Rajesh Kumar Un

08/23/17 - Re-Arraignment - Nisarg Patel

07/19/17 - Re-Arraignment - Nilesh Pandya

07/18/17 - Re-Arraignment - Montu Barot

07/07/17 - Re-Arraignment - Bhavesh Patel and Asmitaben Patel

06/05/17 - Re-Arraignment - Rajubhai Bholabhai Patel

06/02/17 - Re-Arraignment - Viraj Patel

06/02/17 - Re-Arraignment - Hardik Arvindbhai Patel

05/26/17 - Re-Arraignment - Dilipkumar A. Patel

05/26/17 - Re-Arraignment - Fahad Ali

05/18/17 - Re-Arraignment - Nilam Parikh

05/11/17 - Re-Arraignment - Harsh Patel

04/26/17 - Re-Arraignment - Ashvinbhai Chaudhari

04/14/17 - Re-Arraignment - Bharatkumar Patel

Indictment

Superseding Indictment

Actual Charges

The indictment was returned by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Oct. 19, 2016, and charges the defendants with conspiracy to commit identity theft, false personation of an officer of the United States, wire fraud and money laundering. One of the defendants is separately charged with passport fraud.

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Anyone who believes they may be a victim of fraud or identity theft in relation to this investigation or other telefraud scam phone calls may contact the FTC via this website .

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Anyone who wants additional information about telefraud scams generally, or preventing identity theft or fraudulent use of their identity information, may obtain helpful information on the IRS tax scams website , the FTC phone scam website and the FTC identity theft website .

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Kesha Miller

Victim Witness Coordinator