Robocall scammers sentenced in US after netting $1.2M via India-based call centers Two Indian nationals have each received 41-month prison sentences in the United States for their involvement in a $1.2 million robocall scam targeting the elderly, according to New Jersey prosecutors on Tuesday. Arushobike Mitra and Garbita Mitra (no relation, just coincidence) both previously pleaded guilty to one count of …
Coincidence - it happens a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCLynwl0kvk
The article didn't really say and I couldn't find any extra info in the PDF from the courts, but maybe the police seized the other $360k from the crims bank accounts before they could withdraw it? And so added to the $835K that does add up to $1.2m ?
Recently I have been getting several robo calls a week, and when i look the number up online people are reporting it as scams.
My friend was recently conned by one of these scammer who claimed to be from O2 and managed to convince her to give them her O2 account details. The scammers then ordered a brand new iPhone to her O2 account, even getting it delivered to her house. And then called her back saying it was a mistake and they would organise for a courier to collect it.
And it wasn't til she got her next O2 bill and saw the charge that she realised it was a scam and and she had to spend ages on the phone to the real O2 support to prove it wasn't her who ordered it.
My experience in the UK is that the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) and their contact with the ICO is completely broken. EVERY complaint to TPS has a boiler plate reply that the complainee has said it is not them, some other company is using their name, EVEN WHEN you have proof with a verified email from the spamming bastards.
Yep, TPS enforcement is a chocolate teapot. They did actually change their boilerplate slightly as it used to say that they couldn't track down the company, but it now says that they can't prove the company was responsible for the illegal call. I'm guessing they got fed up of people pointing out that the complaints contained contact details for the very company they were saying they couldn't find.
They used to send out warnings to companies, but I don't think they even do that any more. It's run by the DMA, which explains a lot. The ICO is meant to enforce the law, but don't unless a company really takes the piss.
Because that was right before an election, so the "drop" they claim is an illusion. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they are quite a bit higher than October 2022 figures in October 2024 as that will have robocalls involving the presidential election in addition to the other races.
Had an isolated virtual machine ready to go the day they called. Spent around 2 1/2 hours pretending to be a technical dunce. The scammers are VERY good at their social engineering. Including multiple levels of expertise. The frontline guy even did a warm transfer to the backline guy because of 'how complex my problem was'. Spoke good English, friendly & personable. I can see how non-technical people fall prey to their scam.
My Windows needed to be activated - no way I was even risking my license key there - which they promised to fix for a small extra charge. The game was up when they pressured me for a credit card and I refused. I should have had a disposable card number ready from privacy.com, see how much money they would try to take.
I encourage all techs out there to do the same. It was an enlightening experience. I used to think their victims were just stupid users who deserved their fate, but the scammers really are that good. I can see how even a cautious person can fall for their social engineering.
The game was up when they pressured me for a credit card and I refused. I should have had a disposable card number ready from privacy.com, see how much money they would try to take.
I watched a YT of a Brit security researcher who had a VM ready-n-waiting for calls like this. (He even made sure the VM had different icons and shortcuts all over so as not to arouse suspicion.)
The "jewel" of them all was an icon of a JPEG file. The JPEG file was a trojan horse. Click that and the worm will spread throughout the network and encrypt every friggin file. And to make it worth the scammer's time, the JPEG file was called "creditcard".
One day, he got a scam call. As proof of payment, he sent the "picture of my credit card" to the scammers. The last thing the Brit heard from the scammer were "oh, no. What is going on? Why did you do that? What did you just sent me?" And the line went dead.
> One day, he got a scam call. As proof of payment, he sent the "picture of my credit card" to the scammers. The last thing the Brit heard from the scammer were "oh, no. What is going on? Why did you do that? What did you just sent me?" And the line went dead.
I like it! The biter bit. Kudos to that researcher.
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