A federal grand jury in Tucson indicted two Indian citizens accused of scamming victims using a fake tech support scheme.
According to the indictment, Ahmed Maqbul Syed and Rupesh Chandra Chintakindi allegedly tricked mostly older adult victims in Arizona and other parts of the country into thinking their accounts were hacked using pop ups that froze their electronic devices.
The victims were then contacted by fraudsters falsely claiming to represent tech support or government entities and directed to purchase gold or withdraw cash. They were told that money needed to be handed over to those fake government representatives to protect compromised accounts.
At least one victim was told to deposit cash into a bitcoin ATM, according to the indictment.
Syed and Chintakindi face charges for conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona. Syed, who has been arrested, was also charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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