The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found that phishing calls from Indian call centres accounted for the loss of $10 billion of US citizens. Phishing gangs in India have exploited more than 10.2 billion dollars, this year, an uptick of 47% compared to the previous year.
Senior citizens above 60 years, were the prime target of the phishing gangs. These senior citizens lost over $3 billion, in two years, according to FBI data. Senior citizens of the US have lost savings of life due to phishing calls calling impersonating tech support.
The embassy of US has now appointed a permanent representative in India, to work closely with the CBI, Interpol and Delhi police to bust such illegal call centres.
According to the FBI’s South Asia head, romance-related frauds were responsible for duping US citizens of 8000 crores in 2021, while tech support-related frauds exploited $3 billion in the last two years.
Suhel Daud, the FBI South Asia head said that tech support-related frauds have seen an uptick by 130% annually and exploited 9200 crores from US citizens in the last two years. The cybersecurity researchers blocked more than 20000 tech support scam attacks in 2021.
Daud also said that while it may not be a national security matter but it damages the reputation of a country. Such scams provide an unwanted label to the fifth-largest economy in the world.
The tech support uses scare tactics to trick individuals. According to Avast researcher, tech support-related fraud is a major issue in India.
