Call center gang from India’s Madhya Pradesh state managed to steal about $1.7 million in bitcoin from U.S. Citizens. The gang members used various methods and were later arrested according to the reports we have in our latest cryptocurrency news.
According to the Business Standard, there were about 78 people in the gang and operated about three call centers. They scammed the U.S. citizens by illegally obtaining social security numbers of more than 100,000 people and they also obtained their phone numbers and other ID information. The police reports show that the duties of the arrested members of the gang involved contacting U.S. citizens posing as Social Security Administration employees and whey would later tell them that their security number was used in suspicious or illegal activities.
Jitendra Singh who is the Superintendent of Police stated that the callers would demand from the people to be paid between $50 and $50,000 or they will get arrested and they will get their social security numbers blocked if they didn’t comply. According to the reports:
‘’The tele callers, in chaste US accent, would tell them that for settling the issue they have to pay certain amount otherwise their social security number will be blocked and legal action initiated against them. This way they used to terrorize American citizens and make them pay amounts ranging from USD 50 to 5,000 through gift card, Bitcoin and other online modes.’’
During the raid on the call centers, about 60 computers and more than 70 cellphones were seized. There were also many devices and servers sized as well. The members of the gang were aged from 18 to 32 and this is certainly not the first Bitcoin scam operating as an Indian call center as we previously reported in the altcoin news. Busting down the call center comes during the SSA-related scams times in the United States. Three months ago the Federal Trade Commission discovered more than 60,000 fake SSA calls filed with the government body since 2018. More than 3 percent of the filed calls turned out to have lost money to the scammers.
The total money lost in the Indian call center scheme reached $16.6 million but the FTC did not explain what percentage was paid in Bitcoin.
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