Victims from US keep dialling Thane police for help

The harassment of callers by the Mira Road gang was so torturous that some of the victims collapsed under stress. In her complaint, a native of Delhi, Priya Arunachalam, who lives in New York, has told Thane police that on Sept 22, 2015, a person claiming to be an " IRS treasury inspector" threatened and extorted $44,587 (nearly Rs 30 lakh) from her.

Arunachalam has lodged the complaint, saying the culprits caused her family untold stress and that they lost sleep for nearly a year. Another 24-year-old girl from Las Vegas has informed Thane police that the impersonators extorted $1,500 from her by accusing her of violating immigration rules. Her complaint says, "I received a call from 1800-375-5283 on September 19 (from a person) claiming to be an immigration officer from USCIS. He said I am under a strict protocol and I cannot speak to anybody during the call."

The caller asked for all her personal details like passport, visa information and then told her that a criminal case was pending against her back in India. The caller threatened her that she could be "deported, put behind the bars for 72 hours..." He then convinced her to go to the nearest Walmart store and buy a $1,500 Apple iTunes card after which a number would be generated, which she could give to the "police officer" who would be visiting her place.

Anantsingh Dhillon, an Indian based in Victoria in Columbia, too shared details with police. He said, "I got numerous calls from unknown numbers asking me to call back as the Canada Revenue Agency had something against me. It was always in a threatening tone and as I called back numerous times, they may have thought I was following up." Twice he called local police and found out that it was a scam, Dhillon told TOI.

Back in October 2013, the US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration had estimated that roughly 8.9 lakh victims had paid up over $26.5 million to phone scammers. Investigators are now slowly coming to grips with the size of this underground industry although scamsters have managed to cover up their tracks well so far with the use of technology.

Will this tarnish the image of BPOs operating from India, is a question that lingers. A joint Indo-US probe involving the FBI and other US agencies is currently underway and promises more action.