‘Romantic’ Americans Duped $10 Billion By Indians

Received a ‘romantic proposal’ from a man or a woman from a Shudh Desi person from India? Or were you rushed into tech support that was routed through India? Well, the issue of fraud call centers has robbed U.S. citizens of Rs 6400 crore in 2022 alone.

As surprising as it may sound, most elderly Americans have lost $10.2 billion to romance-related frauds and tech support pop-ups, mostly from illegal call centers and phishing gangs from India. In the past two years, Americans have been robbed of $3 billion or Rs 25,000 crore. In 2022, there has been a 47% increase in the last 11 months.

Now, the F.B.I. has taken cognizance of the impact of elderly citizens losing their life savings and has appointed a permanent representative in the U.S. Embassy to work in tandem with C.B.I., Interpol and Delhi police to bust the gangs and to freeze money transferred through wire and cryptocurrencies to such centers based in India.

The tech support crimes have risen by 130% annually, and an F.B.I. south Asia spokesperson shared that they were working with Indian agencies to bust gangs to ensure the world’s fifth largest economy is not labeled as a net exporter of internet and call center-related swindles.