While Prime Minister Modi is busy visiting cities in powerful countries to expand Indian influence, his community the Gujaratis (the dishonest ones of course) have displaced Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast and the Phillipines as the Scam Capital of the world.
Gone are the simple days of the Nigerian 419 telephone and letter scams. New scans rely totally on the internet. In India besides politically connected scams, are two types of major scam categories. One is the high end where Indian banks and stock exchanges are defrauded by the wily Modis and the Choksis of very large amounts with the collusion of local executives. The other end is low profile, the target is mainly Americans and the amount bilked is in the range of 500 to 10,000 USD. Because of the sheer volume of victims, the take is in the millions of dollars. The IRS Scam for example cheated Americans of $300 million alone. Most of the victims are seniors, have money and because of their advanced age, are vulnerable to threats. Besides the IRS Scam and its Canadian equivalent the CRA Scam, there is the Help Desk Scam, the Airline Ticket Scam, the Apartment Rental Scam, the “I’ve Sent A Cheque, Return A Part Of It Scam and the Time Share Scam. In fact new scams are only restricted by ideas running through Gujju heads. Just google Scambaiters on You Tube and you will not only learn from real recorded calls how they work, thanks to the efforts of the tech-savvy few who bait them, but also have a lot of laughs in the process. The Indian scams are operated by hundreds of Call Centres in Ahmedabad and Bombay staffed predominantly by Gujaratis. Their pronunciations are so atrocious and grammar so silly, typically Gujarati, that any Indian can call them out. The Americans however have been so used to Indian telemarketers and Customer Service staffers that a Desai or Patel lad saying he is calling from the IRS in Washington DC, seems to raise no red flags. The scammers work on gullibility, mistaking it for stupidity. In the end they themselves are victims of the Law of Averages. Meanwhile each earns about 30 to 50K rupees a month. To a village boy who can speak rudimentary English and whose only hope is work in farming, that is very attractive, not to mention the vicarious pleasure they get from scamming an American. The Kingpins earn in tens of millions of rupees after sharing the loot with hackers in the US who give them lists of the IRS, Banks and large and small corporations. Indian Police look the other way since no crime has been committed in India. So the next time you get a call from a Gujju Bhai or Behen, pretend you’re scammed. Roland.
