New York: According to the data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), cyber criminals operating in India, looted over 10 billion dollars from US citizens through phishing and other cyber-criminal activities.
Within last two years, over $3 billion were duped form the elderly victims, who constitute the majority, reports The Times of India.
Most of the fraudsters approach elderly US citizens on the pretext of providing technical support or other assistance.
Many illegal call centres functioning in different parts of India acts as the hub for different cyber-criminal activities.
The data shows that in just 11 months American citizens lost $10.2 billion, through Internet or call center-related fraud.
$6.9 billion was reported to be duped last year, comparing to which a 47% hike is reported this year.
Recently, Delhi police have arrested three in connection with running illegal call centres and duping elderly US citizens by promising them tech support.
A permanent representative was designated by FBI at the US Embassy in Delhi as a measure to curb the rising cybercrimes aimed at US citizens.
Through this move, the agency aims to prevent such crimes, working in co-ordination with the CBI, Interpol, and the Delhi Police.
Suhel Daud, the official appointed at the US embassy was quoted as saying by The Times of India that romance-related frauds led to a loss of around ₹ 8,000 crore to victims in 2021 and ₹ 8,000 crore in the last 11 months of this year as per frauds reported on FBI's website.