{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","generated":"2026-08-29T09:19:41.658Z","total":1,"returned":1,"limit":50,"offset":0,"next":null,"note":"Read loss_kind before summing loss_usd: only direct_loss and ransom_paid are comparable. Entries with entry_type \"benchmark\" are aggregate agency statistics and overlap with everything else by construction."},"results":[{"title":"India-based IRS and USCIS impersonation call centers: 24 defendants sentenced","date":"2018-07-20","date_precision":"day","victim_org":"US consumers, many of them elderly (multi-victim campaign)","sector":"Consumer","country":"United States and India","primary_vector":"Vishing (Voice Phishing)","secondary_vectors":["Insider Recruitment"],"ai_involvement":"No AI reported","ai_notes":"No AI involvement; the calls were made by live scripted operators.","outcomes":["Wire Fraud / Financial Loss","Identity Theft"],"loss_usd":8970396,"loss_note":"Restitution of $8,970,396 was ordered for identified victims across 22 defendants, with money judgments exceeding $72.9 million; defendants were held liable for laundering between $3.5 million and $25 million collectively.","records_affected":null,"threat_actor":"Ahmedabad-based call center network and US-based runner network","summary":"On 20 July 2018 the Department of Justice announced that 24 defendants had been sentenced for running and supporting India-based call centers that impersonated IRS and USCIS officials to defraud US victims. Sentences ranged from probation to 20 years, with the three longest being 240, 188 and 165 months. Restitution of $8,970,396 was ordered and money judgments exceeded $72.9 million. A further 32 India-based conspirators were charged.","how_it_worked":"Operators in Ahmedabad called Americans, many of them elderly or recent immigrants, and identified themselves as IRS or USCIS officials. They asserted that back taxes were owed or that an immigration status problem had been found, and threatened immediate arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation unless payment was made at once. The lever was raw state authority plus a deliberately compressed timeline that prevented the victim from consulting family or a lawyer. Payment was demanded in stored value cards or wire transfers, and US-based runners then liquidated the cards, bought money orders and collected wires under false identities to launder the proceeds.","lessons":"Public education that tax and immigration agencies never demand payment by gift card or threaten immediate arrest by phone, combined with retailer prompts at gift card checkout, directly disrupts this model.","confidence":"Confirmed","sources":[{"title":"24 Defendants Sentenced in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims","url":"https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/24-defendants-sentenced-multimillion-dollar-india-based-call-center-scam-targeting-us-victims","publisher":"U.S. Department of Justice"}],"entry_type":"campaign","slug":"2018-india-based-irs-and-uscis-impersonation-call-centers-24-defendants-sente","year":2018,"loss_kind":"aggregate","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2018-india-based-irs-and-uscis-impersonation-call-centers-24-defendants-sente"}]}