The United States has decided to shut down a group of India-based call centres accused of duping people of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Justice Department said the call centres phoned people pretending to be from the US tax or immigration department and forced them to pay “fines” or face arrest and deportation, reported AFP. Most of the victims were from South Asia. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said, “The victims include people all over the United States… and targeted primarily immigrants and the elderly.”

The Justice Department said the companies had been operating since 2013. They cheated more than 15,000 people and made over $300 million from them, Reuters reported. Investigators said the companies directed the victims to their American counterparts for collection of the money.

Once the money was received through debit card or wire transfer, these companies quickly moved it out of the country. The Justice Department said 24 people from nine states in the US have been indicted in the case, of them, 20 have been arrested. Five call centres and 32 individuals in India have also been charged in connection with the case.

The charges brought against a total of 56 individuals and five Indian companies include conspiracy to commit identity theft, false personation of an officer of the United States, wire fraud and money laundering. The charges were filed in the southern district of Texas.

Caldwell said, “These individuals demanded immediate payments from the people they called to avoid deportation, to avoid arrest or to cover supposedly unpaid income taxes.” He said that around 70 people were recently arrested by Indian authorities in connection with call centre scams, but they are not related to the case the US department was handling. “We want to commend the Indians for having done that because we think it’s important that they come in, in addition to our enforcement efforts,” said Caldwell