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Manoj Yadav, a 40-year-old Indian-American, collected an estimated $2.2 million for his services before sending the rest to an unspecified number of associates overseas, federal investigators charged.
Together, the cyber-scammers “misled their numerous victims into thinking that they were a legitimate technology support company affiliated with a major software company,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said following Yadav's arrest on Thursday, Aug. 31.
“After claiming to provide technical support for issues involving the software company’s popular accounting software,” Sellinger said, the crew “charged the victims exorbitant fees for purported support services that were not authorized by the software company.”
The services that the victims were forced to pay for “usually come free with their initial purchase,” added Newark FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy.
Authorities said Yadav and his as-yet-unidentified associates operated under a variety of bogus business names, among them:
- Phebs Software Services;
- PN Bookkeeping Services;
- Phebbs Consulting;
- Quickbooks Tech Assist;
- Quickbook US;
- Quickbooks Accounting;
- Quickbooks Support Team.
According to Sellinger and Dennehy, the India-based thieves basically contacted their targets under the guise of fixing supposed technical issues with accounting software.
They then whacked the customers with exorbitant additional charges or subscription fees that the actual software company – which remains unnamed – would have given them for free.
Yadav was the money man, they said.
He collected and then funneled millions of dollars stolen from the victims to his conspirators through Phebs Software, a shell company that he created expressly for that purpose, Sellinger said.
Yadav used various bogus businesses to make the operation appear legitimately connected to the software company, the U.S. attorney said.
By doing so, Sellinger said, Yadav prevented chargebacks, kept potential complaints from being investigated by the Better Business Bureau and blocked the closure of bank accounts.
Yadav kept 17% of the more than $13 million as his fee -- $2.2 million -- before wiring the rest to his associates overseas, the U.S. attorney said.
Although the number of victims and amount taken from them at first seems shocking, Dennehy said, federal authorities are “seeing an incredible increase in all types of tech support scams.
“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,” the FBI SAC said.
Sellinger credited Dennehy’s office with the investigation leading to the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake A. Nasar of his General Crimes Unit in Newark is leading the prosecution for the government.
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