A fake IRS phone scam has finally been broken up by authorities who have been investigating the multinational fraudulent operation for years, The New York Times reported.
More than 15,000 people in the U.S. have fallen prey to the sophisticated scam, which targeted the most vulnerable such as immigrants and senior citizens, conning them out of millions of dollars between 2012 and 2016.
An additional 50,000 had their personal information misused in the scam, The Justice Department said Friday.
Last week, 21 people across the U.S. were sentenced in Houston to prison of up to 20 years for their role in the fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
This is the latest round of sentences to be dished out to fraudsters linked to the scam. Earlier this year three other conspirators were sentenced for laundering proceeds for the conspiracy, which was operated out of India-based call centers that targeted U.S. residents in various telephone fraud schemes, the department said.
Victims were selected through information obtained from "data brokers" and were called by people posing as IRS or immigration officials, The New York Times said.
The victims were ordered to pay debts with prepaid cards or wire transfers or face arrest, deportation and other penalties.
The money was then routed back to ringleaders in eight U.S. states.
For years the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Treasury Department officials worked to break up the elaborate scam.
All 24 defendants have been named but three men have been singled out for their role in the scheme.
Miteshkumar Patel, 42, of Illinois, was sentenced to serve 240 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on the charge of money laundering conspiracy, the Justice Department said. Patel was held accountable for laundering between $9.5 million and $25 million for the scheme.
Hardik Patel, 31, of Illinois, was sentenced to serve 188 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on the charge of wire fraud conspiracy. He was held accountable for laundering between $3.5 million and $9.5 million dollars for the scheme.
Sunny Joshi, aka Sharad Ishwarlal Joshi and Sunny Mahashanker Joshi, 47, of Texas, was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison on the charge of money laundering conspiracy, and 120 months in prison on the charge of naturalization fraud to run concurrent followed by three years of supervised release.
He was held accountable for laundering between $3.5 and $9.5 million and his U.S. citizenship has been ordered to be revoked.
Twenty-two of the defendants were told to pay restitution of about $8.9 million to victims who could be identified, The New York Times said.
Thirty-two India-based conspirators and five India-based call centers with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy have been indicted, but they have not yet been arraigned.
The IRS has repeatedly warned citizens to be weary of similar scams.
"There are clear warning signs about these scams, which continue at high levels throughout the nation,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement. “Taxpayers should remember their first contact with the IRS will not be a call from out of the blue, but through official correspondence sent through the mail. A big red flag for these scams are angry, threatening calls from people who say they are from the IRS and urging immediate payment. This is not how we operate. People should hang up immediately and contact TIGTA or the IRS.”
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