Indian national pleads guilty in multi-million dollar call centre scam in US
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 May, 2023 12:05 PM
New York, May 18 (IANS) A 28-year-old Indian citizen has entered a guilty plea in a years-long international conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud that saw millions of dollars being extorted from hundreds of victims in the US.
Zaheen Malvi, who was illegally residing in Heber Springs, Arkansas, assisted Indian call centres in the telemarketing scheme scam, US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani announced.
"The Indian call centres perpetrating these scams are relentless," said Hamdani.
"They prey on the fears and insecurities of the most vulnerable among us, such as the elderly. But we are relentless too. Today, one more criminal is finally held to account for the many years he helped funnel money from victims into the pockets of overseas scammersaand tomorrow, we keep working."
The court noted that Malvi first acted as a runner in the scheme, going to different Target stores in the Chicago area and depleting funds from gift cards that victims had transferred to the call centres.
In later years, he managed other runners as they traveled around the country, picking up packages filled with cash that call center victims had mailed.
A common script used in the scheme involved coercing victims into believing federal agents were investigating them.
The "agent" on the phone would convince the victim the only way to clear his or her name from investigation was to buy gift cards and transfer the redemption codes to the call centre or mail cash in a package to a name and address the call centre provided.
Runners in the US would then deplete the gift card funds and pick up the packages.
As part of his plea agreement, Malvi will pay restitution to the scheme's identified victims.
US District Judge Andrew S. Hanen accepted the plea and set sentencing for August 14.
At that time, Malvi faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
The number of foreign-born residents increased by 2.5 million over the decade to 10 million. India was the most common country of origin, accounting for 920,000 people, which is 1.5 per cent of the usual resident population, the 2021 census showed.
The 32-year-old James Zhong from Georgia fraudulently obtained the Bitcoin from The Silk Road -- a site on the dark web once called "the Amazon of drugs" -- in 2012. Thanks to state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing and good old-fashioned police work, law enforcement located and recovered this impressive cache of crime proceeds.
More than 1.4 million mail-in ballots were requested in Pennsylvania this year, he added — 70 per cent of them by registered Democrats, compared to 20 per cent by registered Republicans.
The clarification from the embassy came after queries raised by students and parents regarding eligibility of those Indian students who are pursuing clinical medicine programme in China, for appearing in the qualifying examination in India.
He indicated that he received the information of this plot through the relationships he had formed while in power. In his first address since the assassination attempt on him in Gujranwala on Thursday, in which Khan sustained bullet injuries in his leg, the PTI chief stated that he was aware of the plot to kill him.
In 2015, then President Barack Obama allowed the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the US via the H4 (dependent) visa. H4 visas are issued to dependent spouses and children who accompany H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, and H-3 visa holders to the US.
