Security News > 2023 > October > India targets Microsoft, Amazon tech support scammers in nationwide crackdown
India's Central Bureau of Investigation raided 76 locations in a nationwide crackdown on cybercrime operations behind tech support scams and cryptocurrency fraud.
The police operation, part of Operation Chakra-II, aims to dismantle cyber-enabled financial crime rings and is a collaborative effort involving international law enforcement agencies and tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon, working alongside the Indian federal enforcement agency.
As a result of Operation Chakra-II, the CBI discovered two tech support scam operations running for at least five years, impersonating customer support agents working for "Two well-known multi-national companies."
The tech support scam rings used various international payment gateways and channels to facilitate the movement of funds illicitly acquired from foreign nationals, mainly from the U.S., U.K., and Germany.
According to the FBI's 2022 Internet Crime Report, tech support scams ranked among the top five reported crime types from 2018 to 2022.
Sneaky Amazon Google ad leads to Microsoft support scam.