US citizens have lost over $10 billion in romance-related frauds and 'tech support' pop-ups, originating largely from illegal call centres and phishing gangs in India, a data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.
FBI’s South Asia head Suhel Daud said that most of the victims of these frauds are above the age of 60 years and have lost over $3 billion.
Times of India reported that the losses reported in the last 11 months have been estimated at $10.2 billion and is an increase of 47 percent against last year’s $6.9 billion. After several such cases reported in 2022, FBI has deputed a permanent representative at the US embassy in New Delhi to work closely with CBI, Interpol and Delhi police.
Daud said that the romance-related frauds reported on FBI’s website by victims show estimated losses of Rs 8,000 crore in 2021 and Rs 8,000 crore since February this year. The losses due to fraudulent ‘tech support’ are as high as $3 billion in two years.
“It may not be a national security concern yet, but the reputation (of a country) is involved, and we don’t want India to suffer on that count,” Daud told TOI.
He further said that the CBI and Interpol have been "strong partners" in investigating these crimes and the FBI is ready to supplement the investigative gaps by providing evidence to the local law enforcement agencies in prosecuting criminals involved.
"The 'tech support' crimes, in which a pop-up appears on the computers of victims, promising technical support, increased 137 percent in 2021 (over the previous year) and 128 percent in 2022," he said.
The FBI website for reporting internet crimes (ic3.gov) has registered about 8.5 lakh complaints in 2021 with estimated losses of $6.9 billion, and over 7.8 lakh complaints in the 11 months of 2022, accounting for $10.2 billion in losses, Daud said.
He also noted that the biggest losses are on account of investment ($3 billion), business email compromise ($2.4 billion), personal data breach ($1.2 billion), romance ($1 billion) and tech support ($781 million).
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