Three Desis Charged in $11 Million Fraud in U.S.

Three individuals have been charged for committing a multi-year fraud and money laundering conspiracy involving call centers. The three accused are from different states in the US though they carried out their operations via call centers in India.

Amirsinh Diwan, 42, from Des Plaines, Illinois, Zaheen Rafikbhai Malvi, 28, and Sohil Usmangani Vahora, 37 also from Des Plaines are among the main conspirators. While the first two will appear before a court in Arkansas, Vahora will appear in Houston at a later date.

The callers impersonated US government officials and tricked people to send money to them to safeguard their assets, avoid arrest, and prevent government benefits from being cut off. Following that, they liquidated their gift vouchers and used fake identification documents to pick up their packages containing cash at Walgreens locations.

In all, they defrauded over $11 million from victims. If convicted, all three will go to federal jail for at least 20 years.