The Embassy of India in the United States has issued an advisory on fraud calls, saying that some fraudsters are “spoofing” the telephone lines of the Embassy to make calls aimed at “cheating” people.
The advisory also said that some of such fraud calls were shown as being from the telephone numbers of the Embassy.
Cautioning the people against such fraudsters and their modus operandi, the advisory said that they seek personal information such as credit card details. They sometimes even try to extort money from Indian nationals by claiming that there are errors in their important documents such as passports, visa form, immigration forms or more, which could be rectified by paying money, the advisory warned.
To fuel anxiety among people in order to cheat them, the fraudsters also claim that not rectifying the “so called error” poses risk of deportation back to India or imprisonment in the US, the Embassy said.
“In some cases, these fraudsters have also falsely claimed that they received such privileged information from the Embassy or other authorities in India,” the advisory read.
Visa applicants also receiving fraud calls
Apart from Indian nationals in the US, some visa applicants have also received such fraud calls purporting to be from the Embassy.
Clarifying that no such calls are made by the Embassy, the advisory said that no officials call any Indian or foreign national seeking their personal information. Even if any additional documentation is required from an applicant, it is only sought through official email accounts with domain “@mea.gov.in”.
The Embassy has advised people to not entertain any suspicious calls made in their name and to not reveal any personal information or send money to such fraudsters. In case someone receives such calls, they can be reported to the Embassy at this email id – cons1.washington[at]mea.gov.in.
