Hitesh Patel has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in operating and funding India-based call centers that defrauded U.S. victims out of millions. Patel ran a complex telephone scheme in which employees from call centers in India impersonated officials from the IRS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims were threatened with arrest, imprisonment, fines, or deportation if they did not pay money supposedly owed to the U.S. government. Victims were instructed to provide payment by purchasing reloadable debit cards or wiring money. Patel was prosecuted after being extradited from Singapore in April 2019 and he was ordered to pay $8,970,396 in restitution. (www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-and-operator-india-based-call-centers-sentenced-prison-scamming-us-victims-out-millions)
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