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February 25, 2020

Indian National Pleads Guilty to Charges in Connection with Operating India-Based Call Centers That Scammed U.S. Victims Out of Millions of Dollars

On January 9, 2020, in the Southern District of Texas, Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, also known as Hitesh Hinglaj, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy in connection with his operation of a multimillion-dollar India-based call center scam which targeted U.S. victims.

According to court documents, Patel was identified as an operator of the India-based call center HGlobal. From about 2013 until about October 2016, Patel and his coconspirators participated in a complex scheme to defraud U.S. victims by misleading them into sending money in connection with several different scams. In one of the scams, the coconspirators impersonated Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officers to defraud U.S. residents by misleading them into believing that they owed money to the IRS, and that they would be arrested and fined if they did not pay the alleged back taxes immediately.

As part of the scheme, Patel corresponded by e-mail with his coconspirators to send credit card numbers, telephone scam scripts, deposit slips, payment information, call center operations information, and bank account information. The scripts included IRS impersonation, payday loan fraud, U.S. Government grant fraud, and debt collection fraud. Patel admitted that a reasonably foreseeable loss of more than $25 million but less than $65 million was attributable to him.

Patel was prosecuted in the United States after being extradited from Singapore in April 2019. Singapore authorities had apprehended Patel at the request of the U.S.

Patel may face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years' imprisonment for the wire fraud conspiracy and five years for conspiracy. Both counts also carry the possibility of a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for April 3, 2020.

    Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: S.D. Tex. Superseding Indict. filed Oct. 19, 2016; S.D. Tex. Plea Agr. filed Jan. 9; and DOJ Press Release dated January 9, 2020.