FBI busts India-linked tech support scam that targeted elderly Americans

Boston: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has dismantled a major India-linked tech support scam network that allegedly defrauded hundreds of elderly victims in the United States and abroad out of millions of dollars through fraudulent call centre operations.

The crackdown follows a years-long FBI Boston investigation that resulted in the convictions of five India-based telemarketing fraudsters, a former employee of a US call-routing company, and guilty pleas from two senior executives accused of enabling the scams.

Former CEO Adam Young, 42, of Miami, Florida, and former Chief Strategy Officer Harrison Gevirtz, 33, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for knowingly operating a telecommunications business that supported fraudulent tech-support schemes.

According to US authorities, the company provided services including telephone numbers, call routing, call tracking and call forwarding to customers they allegedly knew were running scams targeting vulnerable victims.

The two are scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2026.

Investigators said the probe, launched in 2020, uncovered links between the executives’ business and multiple India-based call centres accused of posing as technical support representatives to trick victims into paying for fake or unnecessary services.

Indian nationals Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum and Manish Kumar were convicted for their roles in telemarketing fraud schemes operated from India that allegedly targeted elderly and vulnerable Americans.

Another accused, Jagmeet Singh Virk, was also convicted in a separate case in California.

According to court documents, the fraud schemes operated between 2016 and 2022 and relied on deceptive pop-up warnings that falsely claimed victims’ computers had been infected with malware or viruses. Victims were then instructed to call phone numbers that connected them to fraudulent call centres.The 

FBI said victims were persuaded to pay hundreds of dollars for fake technical-support services, while some scammers also gained remote access to victims’ computers and stole sensitive financial and personal information.

Prosecutors alleged that despite repeated complaints from telecom providers and law enforcement agencies, Young and Gevirtz failed to report the scams and instead advised some clients on how to avoid complaints and prevent account termination.

Investigators also alleged that the executives helped fraudsters buy and sell scam-related calls among themselves and promoted the company’s services directly to customers involved in the schemes.