Feds Take Down Tech-Support Scam Operating Via Indians And US Insiders
India-West News Desk
PROVIDENCE, RI – A federal investigation into India-based tech-support fraud operations has resulted in convictions of multiple fraud operators and guilty pleas from two former U.S. telecom executives accused of routing scam calls targeting Americans.
The investigation, launched in 2020, resulted in the convictions of Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum and Manish Kumar on charges linked to telemarketing fraud schemes operating from India. Federal authorities also secured the conviction of Jagmeet Singh Virk in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The call centers used deceptive pop-up alerts warning computer users that their devices had been infected with malware or viruses. Victims were directed to tech-support numbers where operators allegedly convinced them to pay for unnecessary or fake services.
In some cases, agents remotely accessed victims’ computers and obtained personal and financial information.
Federal investigators said the operations relied on telecommunications services provided by a U.S.-based company run by Adam Young, 42, of Miami, Florida, the company’s former CEO, and Harrison Gevirtz, 33, of Las Vegas, Nevada, the former CSO.
Young and Gevirtz pleaded guilty in Rhode Island federal court to misprision of a felony after admitting they failed to report customers they knew were involved in tech-support fraud schemes.
Court filings state that from 2016 through 2022, the company provided phone numbers, call routing, call tracking and forwarding services to customers linked to the fraud operations.
Prosecutors said the executives continued servicing some customers despite complaints from consumers, telecom providers and law enforcement agencies, and advised some on avoiding complaints and account shutdowns.
Investigators further alleged that Young and Gevirtz operated a call center in Tunisia between 2016 and April 2022 where some employees engaged in similar tech-support fraud activity.
“What the CEO and CSO of this well-known call tracking and analytics company did was downright despicable,” Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said in a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“By their own admission, they willfully profited from telemarketing and tech support scammers, here and abroad, who preyed on the elderly, exploited the vulnerable, and drained victims of their life savings and peace of mind,” Docks said.
The FBI said tech-support scams caused an estimated $2.1 billion in losses across the US last year, including at least $5.7 million reported by Rhode Island residents.
