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IT NRI IRS impersonators Sentenced in Call Center Fraud Scam targeting U.S. residents
14 Patels and 10 other NRIs Sentenced to Serve 4 Years to 20 Years
In Tech-support scam-US people lose around $1.5bn to tech-support scams every year

Today’s sentences should serve as a strong deterrent to India-based call center scam centers

Los Angeles, July. 30, 2017
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

IT 20-25 members of a massive India-based fraud and money laundering conspiracy that defrauded thousands of U.S. residents of hundreds of millions of dollars were sentenced last week to terms of imprisonment up to 20 years.  Sentencing hearings took place in Houston, Texas.

These Men associated with calling centers pose as officials from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service left thousands of voice messages claiming to have found irregularities in the victims’ tax records. The messages instructed them to call back and threatening Americans, demanding immediate payment to cover back taxes.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Houston, Texas made the announcement today.

“The stiff sentences imposed this week represent the culmination of the first-ever large scale, multi-jurisdiction prosecution targeting the India call center scam industry,” said Attorney General Sessions.  “This case represents one of the most significant victories to date in our continuing efforts to combat elder fraud and the victimization of the most vulnerable members of the U.S. public.

“This type of fraud is sickening and their cruel tactics preyed on some very vulnerable people, thereby stealing millions from them.

Eighteen defendants were sentenced in Houston before Judge Hittner last week:

  1. Bharatkumar Patel, 43, of Illinois, was sentenced to serve 50 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a judicial order to remove Patel to India at the conclusion of his sentence.
  2. Bhavesh Patel, 47, of Alabama, was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy. 
  3. Dilipkumar A. Patel, 53, of California, was sentenced to serve 108 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a stipulated judicial order to remove Patel to India at the conclusion of his sentence.
  4. Dilipkumar R. Patel, 39, of Florida, was sentenced to serve 52 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy.
  5. Harsh Patel, 28, of New Jersey, was sentenced to serve 82 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner also recommended deportation upon completion of his sentence.
  6. Nisarg Patel, 26, of New Jersey, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy.  Judge Hittner recommended deportation to India following his prison sentence.     
  7. Praful Patel, 50, of Florida, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy. 
  8. Rajubhai Patel, 32, of Illinois, was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy. 
  9. Viraj Patel, 33, of California, was sentenced to serve 165 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a stipulated judicial order to remove Patel to India at the conclusion of his sentence.    
  10. Fahad Ali, 25, of Indiana, was sentenced to serve 108 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner also recommended deportation upon completion of his sentence.
  11. Montu Barot, 30, of Illinois, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a stipulated judicial order to remove Barot to India at the conclusion of his sentence.
  12. Rajesh Bhatt, aka Mike Joshi, 53, of Texas, was sentenced to serve 145 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a stipulated judicial order to remove Bhatt to India at the conclusion of his sentence.
  13. Ashvinbhai Chaudhari, 28, of Texas, was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy. 
  14. Jagdish Chaudhari, 39, of Alabama, was sentenced to serve 108 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy.  Judge Hittner entered a stipulated judicial order to remove Chaudhari to India at the conclusion of his sentence.
  15. Rajesh Kumar, 39, of Arizona, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy.  Judge Hittner recommended deportation to India following his prison sentence.   
  16. Jerry Norris, 47, of California, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of conspiracy. 
  17. Nilesh Pandya, 54, of Texas, was sentenced to serve three years probation on one count of conspiracy. 
  18. Nilam Parikh, 46, of Alabama, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of money laundering conspiracy. 
  19. Asmitaben Patel, 34, of Illinois, was sentenced before Judge Hittner in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, on March 23.  She was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison on the charge of conspiracy.
  20. Dipakkumar Patel, 38, of Illinois, was sentenced before Judge Eleanor L. Ross in the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, on Feb. 14.  Patel, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and passport fraud, was sentenced to serve a prison term of 51 months, to run concurrently.  He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $128,006.26.
  21. Raman Patel, 82, of Arizona, was sentenced before Judge John Tuchi in the District of Arizona, Phoenix Division, on Jan. 29.  In connection with his plea agreement, Raman Patel received a probationary sentence for his plea to conspiracy.  He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $76,314.38.  

In February, 2018, Three men in India were arrested this week after police uncovered a huge scheme that targeted more than 11,000 people in the United States.

· In  April 8, 2017, The police detained a 24-year-old man, Sagar Thakkar, known as Shaggy, was charged with extortion, cheating by impersonation, wire fraud and  earn as much as $150,000 a day. Mr. Thakkar’s 700 young employees would call United States citizens, impersonate I.R.S. agents and demand immediate payment for unpaid taxes. The police estimated that he may have bilked Americans out of $100 million over the telephone.

·       On Nov 17, 2017, Miteshkumar Patel of Willowbrook, Illinois – pleaded guilty to run a call center scheme, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in which scammers tricked U.S. residents out of $300 million by pretending to be Internal Revenue Service agents attempting to collect back taxes.

·       Five other Indian Americans: Sunny Joshi, 47, of Sugarland, Texas; Jagdishkumar Chaudhari, 39, of Montgomery, Alabama; and Rajesh Bhatt, 53, of Sugarland, pleaded guilty to money laundering.

·       The Justice Department estimated that – through the scams – more than 50,000 people were exposed to identity fraud, and 15,000 people lost money.

In 2016, Microsoft published a global survey showing that 66% (2 OF 3 PEOPLE) had been exposed to a tech-support scam. US people lose around $1.5bn to tech-support scams every year

·       86% of them originate in India. They usually involve infecting a computer user’s web browser with a pop-up message that tells them their machine has been compromised.

·        They remote access to their computer. Once connected, they present regular files as deadly threats.

·       They run fake software on the computer to make up viruses, trojans, malware. Then they tell them that if they don’t buy our security products – $299 for a year, $399 for two year