00:04It began with a flashing warning on a computer screen, a fake virus alert, a frozen laptop,
00:12and a terrified elderly American being told their bank account, their identity, and their
00:19life savings were under attack. But behind those pop-ups, the FBI says, was a sprawling
00:26international scam network stretching from the United States to India and beyond. The federal
00:33investigators say they've cracked APEN, one of the largest tech support fraud operations targeting
00:40senior citizens, and now multiple people have been convicted, while senior executives linked to the
00:47operation have pleaded guilty in a U.S. court. According to the FBI, the scam network cheated
00:54hundreds of elderly Americans out of millions of dollars. The operation allegedly relied on fake
01:01technical support calls, phony antivirus warnings, and psychological manipulation designed to scare
01:09victims into paying money. Here's how investigators say it worked. Victims would suddenly see alarming
01:16pop-ups claiming their computers were infected with dangerous viruses or malware. Some screens even
01:23displayed fake blue screen of death messages, locking devices, and warning users to urgently contact
01:31support. The victims, many of them elderly, would then call a number, believing they were speaking to
01:38legitimate tech support. Instead, the calls were routed to fraudulent call centers, many operating from India.
01:45Once connected, scammers allegedly convinced victims to hand over hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars
01:53for fake software repairs or bogus antivirus subscriptions. In some cases, fraudsters remotely accessed computers
02:02and stole banking information, passwords, and personal data. The FBI says this was not random cybercrime. It was a
02:12coordinated international business. Two former telecom executives, Adam Young and Harrison Gevertz, have now
02:20admitted they knowingly helped the operation by providing phone routing and call tracking services to scam
02:27networks targeting Americans and Europeans. Investigators also uncovered links to a call center in Tunisia, where some
02:36employees allegedly participated directly participated directly in the fraud scheme and several India-based
02:42suspects have already been convicted, among them Sahil Narang, Chirag Sachdeva, Abrar Anjum, and Manish Kumar.
02:52Another accused, Jagmeet Singh Virk, was convicted separately in California. According to US authorities,
02:59tech support scams alone caused losses of nearly $2.1 billion in the United States last year.
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