Three from Fort Bend County Charged in Call Center Scam

SUGAR LAND, TX -- Two Sugar Land men, and one Stafford man were among 61 facing charges from the U.S. Justice Department for their role in an international call center scam that was based in India.

Rajesh Bhatt, 52, of Sugar Land; Sunny Joshi, 46, of Sugar Land; and Nilesh Pandya, 53, of Stafford were allegedly part of a massive scheme targeting U.S. consumer by posing as IRS agents, Homeland Security, or other federal officials, and made fraudulent demands.

"They used a variety of schemes to trick frightened individuals over the phone by tapping into their worse fears - that they would be deported, that they would face other problems with the U.S. government
or state or local law enforcement," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

The Justice Department said Bhatt and Joshi were domestic managers at Call Mantra, while Pandya was a runner at Call Mantra.

All three will appear in Federal Court on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo.

The Justice Department believes that at least 15,000 people were duped into shelling out more than $300 million.

"The city of Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the world. We have representatives from all over the globe who reside in Houston and they're extremely vulnerable to this kind of activity and we're
extremely proud that the indictment was brought within our district," Kenneth Magidson, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Texas told KPRC.

In addition to those in Texas, the defendants are scattered across the country in Illinois, California, Florida, New Jersey, Arizona, Indiana and Alabama.

Caldwell said authorities served nine warrants in eight states and arrested 20 people in the international fraud and money laundering scheme investigation. The case includes five call center groups.

The investigation involved Homeland Security criminal investigation agents in Houston, immigration and Homeland Security agents in Sacramento, Treasury inspectors in Seattle, U.S. Secret Service
officials in Chicago and police in the Chicago metropolitan area.