MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — Montgomery County police and the FBI announced Monday that arrests have been made in an international fraud scheme following a years-long investigation into a scam that originated in call centers in India.
The announcement was made along with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office.
According to the FBI, approximately 660 people in the United States have reported being victims of scams where they’ve been contacted by phone or email by people impersonating government officials. In total, those 660 people have been defrauded out of more than $48 million, the FBI said.
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More than $6 million of those financial losses have come from nearly two dozen victims in Maryland, according to the FBI, and at lest ten of the victims are from Montgomery County.
“These scams exploit fear, trust and vulnerability. They are deeply personal crimes,” Montgomery County Police Captain Marc Erme said Monday.
“These call centers were an integral part of international organized crime,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy added.
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The Montgomery County victims include seniors like Lisa, 82, a retired government worker who lives in Rockville. She asked that her last name be withheld for her safety.
“Lisa got an email from what she thought was the Social Security Administration telling her that her social security number was suspended due to illegal activity. It urged her to call the phone number in the email, which she did. She was immediately connected with this scam center over in India,” said Jeremy Capello, a Special Agent with the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.
Lisa told 7-News the fraudsters used fear, telling her that her social security number was being used for criminal activity in Texas and that she needed to transfer her money to be safe.
“The whole situation is very dangerous for me and my family,” she told 7-News.
Lisa wound up transferring her life savings to accounts overseas, money she now realizes she won’t ever recover.
“Older people like I am they should be aware that they’re the best target,” she said.
Capello told 7-News some of the scams in Maryland involved “mules,” who were used to collect payment from unsuspecting victims in the form of gold bars, which they picked up in people’s houses.
McCarthy said seven of the ten people indicted in Montgomery County have been convicted. The prosecutor said those male suspects were acting as mules, picking up money, or in some cases gold bars from the victims.
He added that there may be more victims in the county who have not yet come forward.
“There are potentially victims in our community that, as we sit here today, don’t even realize they’ve been victimized,” McCarthy said.
Investigators said they have only been able to recover about $15,000 of the money lost to these con artists. However, they added that they have been able to prevent additional money, more than $3 million, from being lost to these schemes.
Authorities emphasized Monday that government agencies like the Social Security Administration or the IRS will never solicit money over the phone.
If you think you might be a victim of fraud, contact Montgomery County police at 240-777-3636.
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