Indian Hustle: How Fraudsters Prey On Would-be US Tech Workers

New submitter angel115 points out this article on the widespread fraud committed in India against many thousands of those seeking visas to work in the U.S. Many Indian techies rely on the services of visa brokers (or people who claim to be), and end up burned by the transaction. From the article: "Some are lucky enough to get a visa — only to find that the promised job in the US doesn’t materialize. Then the visa holders are forced to return to India after spending thousands of dollars just surviving. ... No official figures are available for the number of frauds in India, but an unclassified document released by Wikileaks showed that in 2009, US consular officials cited H-1B scams as one of the two most common fraud categories in India." Another interesting detail: As part of a U.S. government investigation, "Officers investigated 150 companies in the city and discovered that 77 percent 'turned out to be fraudulent or highly suspect.' ... Officials uncovered a scheme where Hyderabadis were claiming to work for made-up companies in Pune so the Mumbai consulate would be less suspicious about their applications. 'The Hyderabadis claimed that they had opened shell companies in Bangalore because "everyone knows Hyderabad has fraud and Bangalore is reputable,” according to the internal communiqué [later published by Wikileaks]."

Comments

Why the exodus ?

[invictusvoyd]

Can't They just live and work in India? . There is ample opportunity in India waiting to be tapped. The very first time I saw a US visa applicants queue at one embassy , I decided never to be a part of this . No wonder the Americans are fed up of all these fellas . And whats worse is they form the Indian stereotype in the US . Many who have made the H1 B or whatever seem to believe that they have achieved some "higher ground" by working in the US . I can't get it . I value fellas who write good shell scripts more than these " yum bee yea's " .

Re:Why the exodus ?

[Viol8]

Never underestimate the number of naive people in the world who think the grass is always greener elsewhere. Sometimes it is, usually - unless you come from a slum in some no hope country - it isn't. Its just the same old sh1t but with a different view out the window.

Re:Why the exodus ?

[khallow]

Keep in mind that most of these people probably have friends or relatives who can tell them what it's like. My understanding is that most immigrants don't immigrate without a fair idea of what they'll see on the other side and some help to ease the transition.

Re:Why the exodus ?

[maple_shaft]

Can't They just live and work in India?

Why in the world would they want to do that if given a choice? Sure they have a growing middle class and an Indian software developer lives pretty well considering he is living in India. He/she can afford to live in a reasonably furnished apartment without rats or vermin, afford to feed their family and eat well, and even achieve the pinnacle of middle class success in India, possession of your very own A/C unit to keep you cool in the sweltering summers (as long as the power actually works).

The one thing they will always live with however is the gross overpopulation, the crumbling infrastructure and the graft fraud and bribery that becomes a part of just daily living. A friend of mine from India told me to imagine your day, you get stopped by a cop for a minor infraction, pay a bribe or go to jail. You wait 8 hours in line to get your drivers license renewed unless you bribe the guy at the door to be queued ahead. Somebody can break into your home and steal what little you have and the cops just don't care.

He told me Americans are spoiled not because we are wealthy, but because we don't see Justice as the luxury it really is. Until you live in an overcrowded country that has 400 million starving people in the streets and has rampant corruption and a generally low value on human life, then you will never truly understand how valuable Justice in a society really is. He is slightly amused watching our countries political battles and scandals.

I appreciated his perspective and where he came from in life, and I wouldn't begrudge anybody who would want to come live here if they didn't care for that life anymore.

Re:Why the exodus ?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

It is not true. India has a billion people and there will always be a rung or starta of the society that would think moving to America would better their lives. But the top crust of Indian elites, they are not enamored by America anymore. The top grads from IITs, IIMs they don't come here. Look at the US Graduate schools. It used to be full of students from top Indian schools. Not anymore. I have not seen any resume from an IIT grad in the last 10 years. The last IIT grad I managed to recruit was in 2000.

There are still great reasons to immigrate to USA from India. Less corruption, great clean water and air, reliable power supply etc. But for a young man from a top school contemplating US grad schools/jobs, the biggest stumbling block is the lack of domestic help. Indian girls refuse to marry and move to America because they have to do all the house work. They might be willing to cook and may be load the dishwasher. But cleaning toilets is considered the beneath their dignity. It is nearly impossible now a days to persuade Indian women without IT career prospects to immigrate to USA. Indian women with career in IT get to marry the top honchos in India and get to live a life of luxury.

I thank my lucky stars for immigrating in the early 1990s for my wonderful wife.

Re:Why the exodus ?

[RabidReindeer]

Can't They just live and work in India?

The whole reason why India became such a hot supply of labor is that when a refrigerator is a luxury purchase and electricity is so hit-and-miss that companies build their own private power plants, the cost of living is a LOT lower. You could buy lunch for an entire week for USD $1. Try that at a New Jersey McDonalds. Even today, after 10+ years of Indian professionals pushing salaries up, they still don't get paid anywhere near what westerners do.

So, given a choice between getting well-paid by Indian standards to work in India, or an opportunity to get what amounts to a fantastic salary in the US and other western countries as an H1-B or equivalent - even if they are underpaid by US standards, a lot of them come to the US with the idea of building up an enormous retirement fund, then taking it home to India where it will buy much more than it does in the USA.

Often, however, they end up getting seduced by American-style living. I know quite a few with big fancy air-conditioned houses with modern appliances and an SUV or 2 in the drive. Their main concession is that they generally don't crank the A/C down to 65 like some of my native-born neighbors do.

Boo Fu*king Hoo

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, am sounding insensitive to folks in India. However, am sitting on the other side, where my company has moved all Sys Admin and Database Admin overseas. Posting Anon to keep my resume hopes up. When the f*ck are we going to wake up and take care of our country? Folks collectively spend billions getting the degrees and experience, only to get jobs at Walmart; where they can't even pay their student loans. To top it, we continue to support FB, Google, M$ and others who continue to push for underpaid H1V1 visas...

Re:Boo Fu*king Hoo

[interkin3tic]

Sounds to me like the bad guys are the people deciding to outsource your job, not the people getting ripped off here. Not even the people ripping them off, though they are bad too.

It sounds like you're saying "I have problems too, so why should I care about someone else's problems?" Which is fair, no one is asking you to donate money to help H1V1 scam victims, but "boo fucking hoo" is pointless, and misdirected.

Re:Boo Fu*king Hoo

[schlachter]

Victims all around, but the perpetrators are your fellow American capitalists...not Indians or anyone else trying to find a job to support their family.