NRI man arrested in New Jersey for Rs 107-crore tech fraud

An NRI man was arrested in New Jersey for being part of an alleged technical scam worth $13 million, said a report after an announcement from the US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger on Thursday.

The scam which affected more than 7,000 people mostly targeted elderly and small businesses, reported Moneycontrol.

40-year-old Manoj Yadav has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Yadav appeared before US Magistrate Judge Jos R. Almonte in Newark Federal court.

“The defendant and his conspirators are alleged to have misled their numerous victims into thinking that they were a legitimate technology support company affiliated with a major software company,” Sellinger said in a release.

"After claiming to provide technical support for issues involving the software company’s popular accounting software, they allegedly charged the victims exorbitant fees for purported support services that were not authorised by the software company,” he added.

According to the authorities, Yadav and his conspirators, most of them located in India, posed as a technology support company affiliated with a major US business and accounting software company.

Since 2017, for six years Yadav’s company contacted victims on the phone to fix the technical issues with the accounting software and then charged them exorbitant fees or additional subscription fees. One of the elderly victims was duped of $9,010, according to the documents in the federal court.

The company went by many names - Phebs Software Services, PN Bookkeeping Services, Phebbs Consulting, Quickbooks Tech Assist, Quickbook US, Quickbooks Accounting, and Quickbooks Support Team.

The FBI has accused Yadav of lying to the software customers and charging them for services which were supposed to be free with the initial purchase.

“The amount he's accused of stealing from his victims and the number of victims seem shocking; however, we are seeing an incredible increase in all types of tech support scams,” FBI Special Agent in charge, James E. Dennehy said.

“The fraudsters are pretty savvy in how they con money out of people, even those of us who think we’re smart enough to not fall for it. If you think you’re a victim, please reach out to the FBI,” Dennehy added.

The U.S. Attorney has accused Yadav of sending $13 million (Rs 107.5 crore) to his co-conspirators while keeping 17% of the funds. Yadav fraudulently obtained these funds from the Phebs Software Services, LLC, which was formed by him. Yadav used the same entity under another name - Quickbooks Accounting.