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Feds Charge 61 People In Indian-Based IRS Phone Scam Case (consumerist.com)
BUL2294 writes: Following the arrests earlier this month in India of call center employees posing as IRS or immigration agents, USA Today and Consumerist are reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice has charged 61 people in the U.S. and India of facilitating the scam, bilking millions from Americans thinking they were facing immediate arrest and prosecution. "According to the indictment (PDF) -- which covers 20 individuals in the U.S. and 32 people and five call centers in India -- since about 2012 the defendants used information obtained from data brokers and other sources to call potential victims impersonating officers from the IRS or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services," reports Consumerist. The report adds: "To give the calls an air of authenticity, the organization was able to 'spoof' phone numbers, making the calls appear to have really come from a federal agency. The callers would then allegedly threaten potential victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines, or deportation if they did not pay supposed taxes or penalties to the government. In instances when the victims agreed to pay, the DOJ claims that the call centers would instruct them to go to banks or ATMs to withdraw money, use the funds to purchase prepaid stored value cards from retail stores, and then provide the unique serial number to the caller. At this point, the operations U.S.-based counterparts would use the serial numbers to transfer the funds to prepaid reloadable cards. The cards would then be used to purchase money orders that were transferred into U.S. bank accounts of individuals or businesses. To make matters worse, the indictment claims that the prepaid debit cards were often registered using personal information of thousands of identity theft victims, and the wire transfers were directed by the organizations using fake names and fraudulent identifications. The operation would then use 'hawalas' -- a system in which money is transferred internationally outside of the formal banking system -- to direct the pilfered funds to accounts belonging to U.S.-based individuals.
What makes them any less legitimate than the 'real' IRS? It's a scam either way.
... the call centers would instruct them to go to banks or ATMs to withdraw money, use the funds to purchase prepaid stored value cards from retail stores, and then provide the unique serial number to the caller.
It's technically trivial to block that type of spoofing. The only hold-back is that there's no penalty for the phone companies that sell to the scammers. Charge their US provider with accessory to the crime, and fine them $100M and this could never happen again. Require that all CLID sent be a valid call-back for the number sent.
Yes, I know that this will be annoying for the outsourced call centers, where HP sells their call center to India and the Indian company calls an American with the CLID of the 1-800 number for HP, so the call looks like it's coming from the US, and if called back, gets to the right queue. But those edge cases don't justify allowing free range for the scammers.
Learn to love Alaska
What useful message would EVER come from an Indian caller?
Those calls were fun. I used to respond by being so insulting, abusive, and profane that the last "IRS" call ended with the "agent" shouting, "I'm coming to your house to shoot you in your face."
Been a long time coming! Somehow I feel like 61 is just a drop in the bucket. Keep it up FBI good job! Now THIS is exactly what gives credence to your existence. Now if you could just stop mass surveillance on tax payers that would be another step in the right direction.
only if HP pays the outsourcing tax
What do you mean? Big Indian or Little Indian?
In phone rooms the owners often tell the staff that it is a moral wrong to leave stupid people with a penny in their pocket. I really never agreed with that. But this IRS scam is so stupid and transparent that anyone who feel for it has to be so stupid that they really are a menace to society. Money gives the really stupid a certain amount of power. I almost agree with the phone room owners in this case. If anything prosecute these jerks for making annoying phone calls. Obviously phone room prosecutions are symbolic in nature and not intended to shut down a crooked industry. Most years the feds prosecute about 20 phone rooms. They go after the big dollar scams as a rule. For Lauderdale easily has over 1,000 phone rooms going on any given day. There are zero honest rooms. Some of the schemes are so complex that the staff doesn't even know they are involved in a criminal enterprise. Sometimes it is done by running one room that makes tiny sales and another room across town that uses the leads from the tiny sales to recall the buyer and sock it to them big time with a scam. The first room never knows that the second room exists. One clue that you are about to be taken is when you are asked to write a check with the company names initials. In other words the friendly salesman says make the check out to N.M.I. instead of National Mortgage incorporated. That check will then be cashed by National Marketing Inc.. So if the feds do come knocking national Mortgage claims no knowledge and they just happened to rent space to a marketing company that closed down and left town. These companies never sell in their own states. That way they only have to worry about the feds.
I've been getting the following for months.
I need you or your retained attorney of records to return the call. The issue at hand is extremely time sensitive. My phone number is 213-289-####.
Do not disregard this message and do return the call. Now if you don't return the call and I don't hear from your attorney either then the only thing I can do is wish you a good luck as the situation totally unfolds on you. Good bye.
I blocked part of the phone number just in case it belongs to some innocent person, but it probably doesn't and I was tempted to leave it. The phone number is also different every time they call anyway, but the message is the same.
Anyway, the message sounds so ominous but also so ridiculous. It doesn't give a hint at who is delivering this threat. Could it be the IRS? An old landlord? My ex-wife? It's the best, because by not saying it could apply to almost anyone.
I do have an unpaid parking ticket from about 25 years ago.
I guess "good luck" is on my side though because the situation has not totally unfolded on me.
What makes this so sad is she thinks everybody is scamming her and out to get her. Well except for the one guy who actually was scamming her with this IRS scam. Of course then there's my brother that is such a right wing nut job that he actually thinks that Obama wouldn't just use people from India to call for the IRS, he'd would actually REQUIRE the IRS to have the calls done by Indians.
In addition to those who perpetuated the scam, I feel that since the Thune, India police know the low-level employees who actually spoke from the scripts, I'd love to see the US indict those people, have them beg their families for Rupees to fight extradition in an Indian court, lose that fight, put them on a plane to the US, then let them beg their families again for $$$ for an expensive American lawyer, then rot in a Federal prison for the next 5+ years, then be banned from the USA for life over the felony conviction. With enough stories like that to go around, even destitute people will refuse to work for scammers--including those working for "Windows Company Support".
I have no sympathy for anyone at any level of this scam, including the low-level people following the scripts and making/answering the calls--those pretending to be IRS agents & scaring old ladies into giving up their life savings. These people know English and therefore know they are impersonating an agent of a foreign government (in this case, the big bad US Government, and its unlimited resources). It stands to reason that the foreign government in question might come after them one day. They probably also got a (teeny tiny) cut of each successful con, which makes this all the worse... Make an example out of them...
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
Kindly to be not making me your bitch, sir. I am working for Microsoft.
It's sad how people are so fearful of their own government that they're easily scared into giving away so much money to unknown recipients. I would love to live in a country where a real court trial had to happen before punishment was meted out.
These pricks called me once and I told them right where to go! Glad that they are finally caught!
I used to toy with these idiots and waste massive amounts of their time. They'd get so upset that they'd be screaming at me before they hung up (I counted that as a "win" for me).
There's no letdown like thinking you got a live one on the line, wasting 30 minutes reeling him in, only to have him start asking "What does it feel like to bang a goat?" or "Have I wasted enough of your time or should we keep going?"
I loved asking them if they had "updog", and when they'd ask "What is updog?" I'd yell "NOT MUCH MOTHERFUCKER!!"
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I used to get a ton of these offering to sell me a high price car warranty. My car is still under warranty, so at first I dismissed it outright...but after 6 or 7 of these calls a week, I started to hassle the guys back. My favorite is when a guy tried to sell me a warranty, and I told him that I no longer had the car, but he could get me a quote for my new car if he wanted. I told him it was a Bugatti Veyron SuperSport (http://www.bugatti.com/veyron/veyron-164-super-sport/). He was like "hmm....I don't see that in my system. Is that Italian?". He was less than amused when I told him to Google it and the starting price was $1.8 million.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
I'd rather have them rot in an Indian jail, thank you very much. As a taxpayer, I'd be paying to have them rot in an American jail. Let outsourcing save me some money for a change.
John
So YOU'RE the guy responsible for Trump's presidential run.
thanks a lot, asshat.
Throw them in jail and make India pay for it.
hmmm, sounds familiar.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
There is a legit reason to spoof. People in hiding from abusive spouses, basic PBX, anonymous tips, reporters --- anyone who either wants to hide their identity or assume another one. For instance - when I call from my office I want the caller ID to be that of the main front desk so that a customer can have the call answered when they call back (if I'm busy or maybe somebody else can help them). This requires spoofing - even when I'm using my virtual phone.
How to lock it down? It is the Text that is spoofed sometimes - not the number. "IRS" is the text, but the number is 314-1592.
We used to have an after hours call center - they handled calls for several businesses. If they called a customer back for us - they spoofed our caller id. If I called from my home afterhours - I spoofed my company caller ID rather than my home, again with virtual PBX software. Okay - may be can be encrypted somehow to make sure that only "I" spoof my company. But for people in hiding, or a true anonymous tip, it is a one-off thing that doesn't have an easy answer.
I've heard this is a hard problem to solve. Interviews with experts all paint the complex picture.
The run up to this had twice daily calls coming to my house. Then nothing since.
I found it interesting that a few months ago I'd get a few calls per month. But they must known the police were coming and trying to build up cash quickly before disappearing and leaving others holding the bag. In the final weeks the call rate intensified and changed nature - I now had Live people calling (had been strictly "This is automated message from IRS -please call us back you are being sued"). No time to wait - get the live ones and convert them to cash.
I save a couple of the asshole's numbers, then when I get another call I click "Add Call" and forward them to another telemarketer / scammer. Then I just listen while the Viagra guy pitches the alarm system guy and vice versa.
In addition to those who perpetuated the scam, I feel that since the Thune, India police know the low-level employees who actually spoke from the scripts, I'd love to see the US indict those people, have them beg their families for Rupees to fight extradition in an Indian court, lose that fight,
Sounds like you're not familiar with India. They will have to pay a very small amount of Rupees not to be found by police whilst the US will have to pay a very large amount of Rupees for the police not to find them.
Secondly, there's a billion Indians, the US will run out of money three times over before they run out of volunteers.
Thirdly, the scammers will just move to another country where the US has no clout and the process will start all over again.
This is not fight you can win through legal battles, its a fight against stupidity in the US, not against poor people in India. The only way you can fight it is to educate people.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
The whole scam seems to rely on the ability of the Hawalas to ship Money across national borders. But I find it hard to believe that they would use 100s of these people, presumably this boils down to a handful of bent Hawala agents that can be tracked, or has bitcoin rendered that unfeasible ?
Nullius in verba
Paraphrased from the unsealed indictment:
1) Call center threatens victims with jail time if they don't pay tax fine
2) Victim instructed to buy a number of moneypak cards and email or call scammer with moneypak ids for the cards
3) Moneypak cards are transferred to Green Dot reloadable cards
4) Reloadable cards are converted to money orders
5) Money orders are deposited into a bunch of various us bank accounts
6) Those bank accounts are used to pay off "Hawaladar" money transfers from India to US (underground banking) (This last step isn't clear how the money moved out of the banks but at least some of this happened)
It shows how gullable people are. One guy bought $139,000 worth of cash cards (276 MoneyPak cards) and emailed the ids of the card to the "IRS" thinking that would pay his tax fine.
I suspect they are still chasing other whales who are on the receiving end of any transfers out of those bank accounts because they arent mentioned in this document.
If your next target could be the guy "from VISA and MasterCard" who keeps calling me about my credit card problem, or maybe the guy from "the bank" who flagged issues with my account, that would be awesome.
It was fun for a while to fuck with them, insult their fucked up rape loving culture, and talk about how much I love to kill and eat cows, but I've been over that for years now, and enough is enough.
Mohammed: Did you see Mohammed at the meeting today?
Mohammed: No, but his brother Mohammed showed up.
Mohammed: What did Mohammed talk about?
Mohammed: Mohammed introduced us to Mohammed who is also a mason!
Mohammed: A mason? No shit? How long has he been one?
Mohammed: About five years. He was referred to the local lodge by Mohammed.
Mohammed: Ah, yes, Mohammed. He has a shit ton of connections around town!
Mohammed: Yes, and our brothers, police be upon them, Mohammed and Mohammed from Egypt came, too.
Mohammed: I've been thinking of becoming a clown.
Mohammed: A clown, Mohammed, why?
Mohammed: So I can film myself being gay.
Mohammed: Oh, you.
Mohammed: So anyway, is Mohammed, Mohammed, and Mohammed coming to the next party?
Mohammed: Indeed. Mohammed was so funny last time.
Mohammed: Well it wouldn't be a party without Mohammed.
Mohammed: Yes, my friend. POLICE BE UPON THEM!
I admit I am not tech-savvy, but love reading the comments of you who obviously are. I can, however, repair your washer, dryer, refrigerator or any other major appliance with ease. That aside, why is the FCC allowing spoofed phone ID's to be transmitted?
I pay for Caller ID from Verizon on my Glxy5, but lately, it does not want to provide names, just prefix locations. What has become of our privacy?
Any steps I can take to avoid telemarketers on my business cell phone? Any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!
I heard on NPR it was just a few percent. But with five figure extortion amounts, that goes a long and provides a strong incentive.