CBI and US Department of Justice Take Action Against Call Center Tech Support Fraud System
Washington:
In >, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the United States Department of Justice took simultaneous action against a tech support fraud scheme, which was allegedly orchestrated by a United States citizen and operated for call centers in India to defraud hundreds of the elderly and vulnerable in the United States, officials said.
Michael Brian Cotter, 59, of Glendale, Calif., Has supported his accomplices in India in pursuing the project, the US Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday.
In response to a lawsuit filed in the United States, a federal court ordered Cotter and five companies to stop engaging in the tech support fraud system, which allegedly defrauded hundreds of elderly and vulnerable American victims, a he declared.
The complaint was filed by the Consumer Protection Division of the Civil Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the action was coordinated by the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force established last year to combat against foreign fraud schemes targeting American seniors.
The complaint sought both preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent defendants from further victimizing consumers.
According to the complaint, the defendants’ program contacted US consumers via Internet pop-up messages that falsely appeared to be security alerts from Microsoft or another well-known company.
The pop-up messages fraudulently claimed that the consumer’s computer was infected with a virus, pretended to run a scan of the consumer’s computer, falsely confirmed the presence of a virus and malware, and then provided a toll-free number to ask for help.
When the victims called the toll free number, they were connected to India-based call centers participating in the fraud system. Call center workers asked victims to give them remote access to their computers and told them they had detected viruses or other malware. Then, employees falsely diagnosed non-existent issues and allegedly demanded victims pay hundreds of dollars for unnecessary software and services.
Michael Cotter is said to have facilitated the program through several companies, including Global Digital Concierge Pte Ltd, registered in Singapore, formerly known as Tech Live Connect Pte Ltd, the Nevada registered companies Sensei Ventures Incorporated and NE Labs Inc, Kevisoft LLC, registered in New York, and the United Kingdom. -registered Kevisoft UK Ltd.
The court’s restraining order dismantled US-based infrastructure, including websites and payment processing relationships.
Taking note of the international fraud perpetrated by these companies operating from various locations in India, the CBI has registered a criminal case against five companies involved in the scheme and carried out an investigation to identify and locate the perpetrators, said the Ministry of Justice. in the statement.
Coordinated research operations were carried out in the offices of these companies and in the residences of the directors of the entities, he said.
In an unprecedented collaborative effort, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India took parallel action “against companies and individual program participants located in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Jaipur, according to the statement.
According to CBI, incriminating digital evidence related to the scheme was collected and seized during the searches, she said.
As per the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, since at least 2011 Cotter has worked with co-conspirators in India to implement the alleged scheme, including registering site domains. Web, the creation of shell companies and the making of relationships with banks and payment processors to facilitate fundraising from victims of the system.
Individual victims are said to have reported paying hundreds to thousands of dollars to the program for unwanted and unnecessary technical support services, he said.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Civil Division, said: The Justice Department sincerely appreciates CBI’s efforts to disrupt and prosecute tech support fraud, government impostor fraud and all other schemes intended for the American public.
“The FBI works with its local, state, federal and international partners to combat technical fraud schemes,” said Deputy Director of the Division of International Operations, Charles Spencer.
The statement quoted CBI officials as saying that the investigative agency would continue to work closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and promote cooperation with US law enforcement on cybercrime and cybersecurity.
“CBI has made a concerted effort to quickly identify and dismantle any transnational cyber fraud network operated from India,” he said, citing officials.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
