US v. Ankur Khemani, et al

The defendants operated a bogus computer technical support company.  Victims would obtain the toll-free number for the phony service through either (1) a pop-up advertisement that would appear on the victim’s computer, or (2) through an Internet search for technical support services.  Victims’ calls would be routed to a call center in India, where an individual posing as a technical support technician would obtain remote access to their computers and falsely inform the victims that their computers had been targeted by hackers and/or had been infected with malware.  The phony technician would then pretend to perform repairs and/or install unneeded computer programs.  The victim would be billed between $300 and $1,500 for the bogus work performed, and would be instructed to send payment, either by U.S. Postal Service or FedEx, to an address inside the United States.  Upon receipt of the payments, defendants inside the United States would send the money to defendants in India.