US call centre scam: 4 Indians, 1 Pakistani plead guilty

Four Indians and a Pakistani national have pleaded guilty to charges for their role in a massive telephone impersonation fraud and money laundering scheme in the US perpetrated by India-based call centres, the US Department of Justice said.

Indian nationals Rajubhai Patel (32), Viraj Patel (33), Dilipkumar Ambal Patel (53) and Pakistani Fahad Ali (25) each pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy before US District Court Judge David Hittner of the southern district of Texas.

Indian national Hardik Patel, 31, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy before the same court on June 2. Sentencing dates were pending for all five defendants, the Department of Justice said on Monday. Based on the statements in his June 2 guilty plea, beginning in August 2012, Hardik owned and managed the day-to-day operations of an India-based scam call centre before leaving for the US.

While in India, Hardik communicated extensively via email, text, and other means with various India-based co-defendants to operate the scheme and exchange scripts used in the scheme. He also used to coordinate the processing of payments from scammed victims, obtain and exchange lead lists used by callers to target US victims and exchange spreadsheets containing the personal identifying information of US persons misappropriated by the scammers to register reloadable cards used in the scheme.